Copped Enough: retention crisis a threat to community safety

2 May 2025

Policing ‘faces a dangerous loss of experience’ which presents a threat to community safety, the chair of Nottinghamshire Police Federation has warned.

Simon Riley said officers feel underpaid and undervalued, and many are being forced to leave the service simply to make ends meet.

Now he is backing a hard-hitting campaign exposing the crisis in policing that is endangering officers' lives and putting public safety at risk.

The Police Federation of England and Wales has launched Copped Enough: What the Police Take Home is Criminal calling for urgent action on pay and welfare.

The campaign was launched yesterday, on International Workers’ Day (1 May), which celebrates the dignity of labour and the right of every worker to fair pay and safe conditions.

And yet police officers in Nottinghamshire face spiralling trauma, violence, and risk while losing a fifth of their pay in real terms since 2010.

The campaign calls on the public to support police and their families by joining a ‘digital picket line’ in protest at www.polfed.org/campaigns/copped-enough

The reality for our officers:

• Nationally, 10,000 officers will resign every year by 2027 - forcing the Government to spend £9.9 billion recruiting and training their replacements just to stand still.

• 35 per cent of police officers in England and Wales have five or fewer years' experience today, a third more than in 2020.

• In Nottinghamshire, 18 per cent of officers intend to resign from the service within the next two years.

• 86 per cent of Nottinghamshire officers indicated they had experienced feelings of stress, low mood, anxiety, or other difficulties with their health and wellbeing over the last 12 months. 

Simon said: “Year on year, our members have seen their income shrink in real terms, and they are now paid a fifth less in real terms than they were a decade ago.

“We have officers using food banks, struggling with mental health, and feeling forced to leave the job they love.

“Police officers love the job they do and put their own safety on the line to protect others – but too many have just Copped Enough.

“Without urgent action to restore fair pay and protect welfare, we face a dangerous loss of experience and a direct threat to the safety of our communities.”

The Copped Enough campaign calls for action in three areas:

1. Restore police pay

• Urgent and fully-funded pay restoration

• Introduce a ‘P-Factor’ allowance to reflect the unique demands and risks of policing

• A binding, independent pay review system, free from political interference

2. Stop the exodus of experienced officers

• Develop retention packages for skilled officers

• Implement a national workforce strategy focused on experience, not just recruitment numbers

• Improve work-life balance with better parental leave, protected rest days, and career transition support

3. Protect Frontline Officers

• Enforce tougher sentencing for those who assault police

• Centralised funding for police treatment centres, not out of police officers pockets

• Mandatory national recording of suicides and suicide attempts in the service, with dedicated mental health support 

As part of the campaign, Simon urged the public to stand with police and their families by joining a digital picket line at www.polfed.org/campaigns/copped-enough

He said: “Our members run towards danger every day before taking the burdens of that work home to their families.

“What they take home – salary cut by a fifth in real terms within a generation and more trauma and stress than virtually any other worker in the country – is criminal.”

Nottinghamshire Police Federation stands united with the national campaign and calls on local MPs, chief officers, and community leaders to back police officers by delivering the fair pay and support they urgently need.