Pay and morale survey in policing

[normal rules]

Some very worrying stats in this . The govt can spin all they like about uplifts in officer numbers. It’s only going to get worse. This from the Police Federation website.

11 January 2023
The Police Federation of England and Wales’s (PFEW) Pay and Morale Survey 2022 has revealed severe struggles faced by rank and file officers and a sense of deepening frustration with the Government for continuously failing to assist.
The survey found 9 in 10 police officers feel financially worse off than they were five years ago and nearly one in five officers plan on handing in their resignation as soon as possible or within the next two years due to reasons including unfair pay.
PFEW National Chair Steve Hartshorn said: “Police officers are reaching breaking point and are leaving the service in their droves as every element of their pay and conditions has been gradually eroded in the space of a decade.
“Record numbers are resigning over inadequate pay and conditions. We are losing some exceptional officers simply because they cannot afford to stay in the service with an alarming number unable to afford monthly essentials.
“The latest figures indicate 8,117 (FTE) police officers left the service in England and Wales in the year ending March 2022 – the highest number of leavers since comparable records began, and at least 1,800 of those officers who joined under the Government Uplift Programme have already voluntarily resigned.”
According to the survey, the most frequently cited reasons respondents gave for intending to quit were morale (98 per cent), how the police are treated by the Government (96 per cent) and pay (95 per cent).
The vast majority (83 per cent) of police officers disclosed they are ‘dissatisfied’ or ‘very dissatisfied’ with their overall remuneration (including basic pay and allowances), while nearly one in five (19 per cent) of respondents reported ‘never’ or ‘almost never’ having enough money to cover all their essentials.
Of 36,669 officers who responded, 95 per cent said their treatment by the Government harmed their morale with 87 per cent saying the same for pay.
More than nine in 10 respondents (94 per cent) stated they did not feel respected by the Government, and three-quarters (70 per cent) said they would not recommend joining the police service to others.
The number of officers who feel unfairly paid given the dangers and demands of the job has also hit a record high.
An overwhelming majority (94 per cent) stated they are not paid fairly for the stresses and strains of the job, while 88 per cent said they are not paid fairly considering the hazards they face in the line of duty, the highest levels reported since the first survey was undertaken in 2018.
Almost one in five (18 per cent) reported they had suffered one or more injuries that required medical attention as a result of work-related violence in the last year.
In the year ending March 2022, there were 41,221 assaults on police officers, up from 36,969 the previous year, leading to unprecedented levels of mental exhaustion and mental ill-health within the police service. This amounts to more than 110 assaults per day, every day of the year.
Mr Hartshorn continued: “We asked our members what they think and the results of our survey clearly illustrate the anger and disillusionment of police officers across England and Wales. Many have stopped expecting any recognition from the Government for their unique responsibilities and the restrictions imposed on their industrial rights, which, quite frankly dangerous.
“Being able to protect the public effectively, rests on a knife edge. Without sufficient investment in policing, we will see a further detrimental rise in resignations, and officers will not be able to keep up with the new technology innovations criminals use, will not be able to stretch resources to attend all crimes, and, ultimately, will not be able to keep our communities safe from the rise in violent crime.
The 2022 survey found an alarming number of respondents (88 per cent) did not feel they had enough officers to manage the demands being made on them as a team or unit. Highlighting issues of increased, overwhelming workloads and dangerous single crewing.
The compelling findings have also illustrated a growing crisis of the wellbeing and mental health of police officers, with more than eight out of 10 (82 per cent) indicating they had experienced feelings of stress, low mood, anxiety or other difficulties with their health and wellbeing over the last 12 months, representing another increase in comparative figures.
Reiterating PFEW’s constant appeals for long-term investment in policing, Mr Hartshorn said: “It is paramount the service is provided with long-term investment, instead of single-year settlements to future-proof the service. The Government must listen and not ignore the needs of the service because they do not have the right to strike.
“To rebuild the broken thin blue line, police officers need a pay award that acknowledges the cost-of-living crisis, their unique responsibilities and the restrictions imposed on their industrial rights. Otherwise, the profession will remain at risk and the disillusionment of our colleagues will deepen, the Government must act.”
The national survey ran between September and October 2022 and 36,669 rank and file police officers took part.
The crucial evidence presented by this survey supports our ongoing efforts to fight for fair pay and conditions for our members.
You can read the full headline report here and view localised force reports on the survey hub.

[Sprotyrover]

The very decent Pension after 30 years service was a massive incentive for Officers to see out their career, that was kicked into touch by Teresa may when she was Home Secretary. I think the Tories took a leaf out of Bills Stubbs Tears book, they looked at stats saw a massive fall in crime rates over the preceding decade and decided that they didn't need the Police kept sweet anymore. In went the boot, but they have found to their cost  (BST take note) that you can't trust graphs. the way we as a nation deal with juvenile crime changed as we stopped chasing statistics and actually took the bold decision to take 90% of Juveniles who had committed crime out of the Criminal Justice system and started treating them like immature young people who had made a mistake! They got guidance instead of Punishment. The other interesting Stat which was a fall in adult crime correlates with the removal of Lead from Petro!

[Sprotyrover]

Carrying on the ambivalent attitude by our hierarchy to Illegall drug use gave a massive signal to the Criminal classes that you can smoke a spliff in public and if you get caught it's a mere Caution, you can deal drugs on the street as long as you only have 7 deals on you, that's classed as personal use, again a caution or a trip to court and a £250 fine.
Bear in mind that some Motoring offences such as No Insurance or Fail to Furnish get you up to 8 points and a £1400 fine.
Isn't it ant wonder that Cannabis production is endemic.
Again he hierarchy didn't realise that many Young under achievers see drugs as an easy way to make a lot of money. They get recruited into gangs ang once in cant leave.
Last time I checked there were over 100 crime groups in South Yorkshire, they are all trying to expand or are defending their Turf usually a post code area. The introduction of Refugees from knife culture countries and countries like Syria and Somalia brought a new breed of Ciminal into the country, they know how to use firearms and they don't give a second thought when it comes to using knives.
So now all our 'home growns ' have also had to 'Tool up' .
So violent crime has rocketed and we have reacted by kicking our Police officers in the teeth, large numbers of highly skilled highly experienced Officers are resigning. The new recruits are mainly 'University Students' going a nice Police Salary whilst they earn their degrees over 3 years and have a nice cushy unsupervised jolly.
Thy have started to Graduate and when reality strikes the ones who want to stay on , bite the bitter bullet and resign themselves to a bleak future of being under resourced constantly being required to work overtime , being kept on duty to facilitate the force to function barely adequately after a Shooting or other serious incident and having Days off cancelled to cover Sporting events mainly Soccer.
 And of course the prevalence of social media and mobile phones doesn't make their work any easier, we see it every day on the Tlly some cops try to arrest a physically capable individual who doesn't want to comply and they have to use Force .30 years ago Joe Pulic
Would have helped the Cops , now they get their mobiles out and film the debacle.!

[ridgewoodrover]

My daughters a police officer with nearly a decade of experience.
They like officers with degrees now.
That’s ok she says, until they’ve got to stand up to some nasty scrote.
She prefers to work with old style coppers.

[Sprotyrover]

The dedicated ones will stay, the luvvies will say thanks very much for a degree on a good salary and resign moving on into roles in Councils and the like.
A bother problem and it is also relevant to the Prison Service uplift is the Tories impose an £18,000  fine on the organisations if they dismiss any uplift recruits. So they are very reluctant to sack any under achievers.

[normal rules]

Big mistake making police recruits only degree based. They have basically written off anyone with a forces or other non degree background. Some of the best, most professional, diligent and tenacious cops I ever had the pleasure of serving with were ex forces. A large percentage of cops I have known over the years are ex forces. It just works. Uniformed and disciplined.

A female recruit I got told about recently refused to do her fitness test in a group. Her excuse was she didn’t want anyone watching her run! Another recent male recruit had his mother turn up at his police station in the middle of the night to take him home as the night shift was making him too tired! Another female recruit had no knowledge that she had to work nights at all. And subsequently resigned. And perhaps the worst of all, a recent male new recruit turned up to a sudden death and because he did not like the sight of a dead body, he called his dad, who turned out to deal with the incident. The father was not a police officer and never had been. He was just a dad! I shit you not!
This is the Police Service the govt have allowed to develop over the years.
And it’s getting worse.
Meantime, criminals  are becoming more determined, more sophisticated, more organised and more in number.
The battle is being lost.

[Bristol Red Rover]

I live with an officer in his first year. He's on the verge of leaving, as are many of of his work colleagues, many have already left. They are treated appallingly, are paid so badly for what they do, and the management on both the very local and wider level is a chaotic mess.

But then having poor policing gains votes for Tories and their empty promises.

[normal rules]

Our local force surveyed its officers for this.  There was only a 30% turnout. I have a very strong feeling that the other 70% have such deeply entrenched apathy that they could not be bothered doing the survey. Of the 30 % that responded, around 400 officers, 18% of them plan to resign in the next two years or as soon as possible. That’s 72. Add retirements to this and it’s catastrophic levels of retention.

I remember a time when recruitment windows were only open for a day or two every year, because it was a job held in such high regard. And the fight for the office of constable was fierce. In 1999, 12 jobs had 600 applicants. I know. I was one of the lucky 12.
Now, there is pretty much an open recruitment policy all the time. They can’t give the jobs away.