Federation reveals fear of hundreds of officers leaving force

Hundreds of officers are on the brink of resigning from Leicestershire Police as they have copped enough of attacks to their pay and conditions, damning figures revealed.

Andy Spence, Chair of Leicestershire Police Federation, urged the Government to “sit up and look” before the force reached crisis.

The latest Police Officer Pay and Morale report showed 19% of respondents from Leicestershire Police told us that they intend to resign from the police service either ‘within the next two years’ or ‘as soon as [they] can’.

This could be as many as 400 officers.

In Leicestershire Police, the most frequently cited reasons for intending to leave were morale, the impact of the job on their family and personal life, and the impact of the job on their mental health and wellbeing (with 85%, 79% and 77% respectively).

Andy said: “This is not officers retiring – they are resigning. Officers are leaving because of the stress and the conditions, and they’re leaving to go and work in completely different sectors.

“They’re not going to be disturbed, they’re not going to be assaulted day in, day out, they can have the holidays they booked.”

Andy stressed public money was being wasted training police for them to feel like they needed to abandon their career.

It was a situation that left the Government funding workers for the private sector, according to Andy.

He said: “Do you want to watch all that experience walk out the door or do you want to sit up ask ‘Why are people leaving?’.”

Andy called on the Government to increase policing pay and stop shifting the goalposts when it came to how officers should police.

According to the survey, 73% of respondents from Leicestershire Police felt that they were worse off financially than they were five years ago and 12% of respondents reported ‘never’ or ‘almost never’ having enough money to cover all their essentials.

Andy said without better pay, more officers would begin to question if they could continue to afford feeding their families.

He added: “All of these things are the reason why police are leaving. Who is there to protect the public if these officers leave?”

Andy concluded: “Over 900 officers were assaulted in Leicestershire last year, over 10% of officers required medical treatment due to these assaults.

"Police officers are exposed to approximately 400 traumatic incidents over their service. They need the support and the pay for these conditions; at the moment they don’t get either.”

The Police Federation of England and Wales “Copped Enough” Campaign Calls for Immediate Action on Three Key Areas:

1. Restore Police Pay

• Urgent, fully-funded action on fair pay
• Full recognition of an army-style “P-Factor” allowance recognising the unique risks of policing
• Implement a binding, independent pay review system to remove political interference

2. Stop the Mass Exodus of Experienced Officers

• Provide a retention package to keep skilled officers in policing
• Develop a workforce plan focused on retention, not just recruitment
• Support work-life balance, including protecting rest days, improved parental leave and transition support

3. Protect Officers on the Frontline

• Enforce stronger sentencing for assaults on police officers
• Fund police treatment centres centrally
• Provide robust mental health support, including mandatory national recording of suicides and attempted suicides