One in 10 South Yorkshire Police officers intend to leave force in next two years, survey results show

The research has been carried out by the Police Federation of England and Wales for their 2022 Pay and Morale report, for which 450 South Yorkshire Police (SYP) officers have been surveyed.

It found that 16 per cent of respondents ‘never’ or ‘almost never’ have enough money to cover all their essentials, while 84 per cent said they feel dissatisfied with their pay, 86 per cent said they feel ‘worse off’ financially now than they were five years ago and almost all officers – 99 per cent – said they had seen living cost increases in the previous month.

In addition, 13 per cent of respondents told researchers that they intend to resign from the police service either ‘within the next two years’ or ‘as soon as [they] can’.

Commenting on the findings, Steve Kent, Chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation, said the report made for difficult reading but was ‘sadly unsurprising'.

“As the survey says I fear we will start to lose recruits and serving officers if this continues,” Mr Kent said.

He added: “We are hearing across the public sector the anger at poor pay growth and nowhere is this as poor as within the police service. Our officers can’t take industrial action and that has been taken advantage of over the last decade. Last year saw the Government accept our pay review board decision and it was a very small step in the right direction. It needs to continue this year but I fear it won’t.”

All police officers in England and Wales were awarded a pay-rise of five per cent last year, which came into force on September 1, 2022, but Mr Kent says this ‘was way below inflation booming now at more than 10 per cent’.

“Household bills are rising sharply and over the past 12 years police officer pay has fallen in real terms by 25 per cent,” he continued.

The survey found seven in 10 (71 per cent) respondents do not feel valued within the service, and 68 per cent said they would not recommend joining up to others.

A total of 85 per cent of respondents indicated that they had experienced feelings of stress, low mood, anxiety, or other difficulties with their health and wellbeing over the last 12 months, and more than half – 53 per cent – said that they find their job ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ stressful.

Mr Kent added: “In terms of morale and wellbeing I see the force and ourselves with our welfare suite have put provisions in place to help with officers who are having difficulties. However we need to do more to prevent officers being burnt out in the first place. Our officers are frequently working exceptionally long hours and working their days off.

“Police work will always mean this happens, but it cannot continue to happen on the scale that it does. A lot of this is caused by centrally driven bureaucracy and a statistical culture within policing. This also needs to change. We need to focus on quality of service and allow our professional officers to the do the job that they are so good at doing.

“We also cannot continue to be the service of last resort. I don’t believe the public realise the staggering amount of demand we absorb from other public agencies. Demand that people on the high street would likely not think appropriate for the police to end up dealing with.”

“What it does mean is we struggle to deal with the core tasks that we are here to deal with,” he added.

“And the knock on effect of that is that the police get lambasted for perceived failings in attending incidents and dealing with crime when in a lot of cases it will be because we are having to prop up other struggling services. I know the force is looking at addressing this which is very welcome, but it’s very important that the press and public understand this because policing is still under relentless pressure which isn’t always reported in the media and certainly doesn’t attract any sympathy and understanding for which our colleagues in the NHS rightly seem to attract,” Mr Kent said.

The number of SYP officers subjected to physical attacks in the line of duty has also been revealed, with a fifth of those who participated in the survey having suffered one or more injuries that required medical attention as a result of work-related violence in the last year.

Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police, Lauren Poultney, said: “We are aware of a number of the issues highlighted in this report, direct from officers and through the Police Federation. Many of the issues raised unfortunately sit outside of our ability to change, such as police pay, however, it does not make them any less concerning. While a small number of the 450 respondents stated they would choose to leave, this is not reflected in the dedication I see from our officers every day.

“They work hard, day in, day out, to keep the communities of South Yorkshire safe, performing to a high standard in responding to the needs of our public. The police are often the last port of call when other agencies are unable to help, which not only adds to workloads, but also to the mental pressures of the role. Added to this is the current cost of living crisis, which only increases the strain felt by our officers.

“We recognise this and have significantly increased the wellbeing services offered to both police officers and staff as a result. We are committed to supporting our policing family where and when it is needed and for as long as it is needed, with both mental health concerns, or physical injuries.

“We are in a positive place with our recruitment of new officers who are starting to reach independent patrol status. This is already helping to reduce the levels of overtime, and we hope to see further reductions as more officers make their way through the recruitment process.

“I would encourage any officer in need of help to access the support available through our wellbeing services, and we will continue to work closely with the SYP Federation to identify further steps we can take address the issues raised.”

South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings said: “The police service nationally shares in the mix of low morale and anger that is currently affecting almost all our public services – teachers, doctors, nurses, care workers and more.

“Many of the underlying causes are the same: a decade of underfunding, pay that has fallen way behind inflation and a government that does not seem either to understand public services or value them or care about those who work in them. If 94 per cent of officers feel that the government does not respect them, it is not surprising if this affects morale.

“While Covid and the war in Ukraine have added to the misery, many of the root causes go back to the period of austerity that began with the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition and has continued under successive Conservative governments.

“There has been no long-term planning and a year on year running down of police numbers. Only now is the government seeking to put back the 20,000 that were cut – but is still not giving Police and Crime Commissioners the funding needed to maintain these numbers in future years.

“During the austerity years the damage was done to policing: criminal gangs expanded their drug markets, not least through county lines.

“Police officers who are burdened with a big case load and cannot get to a victim of crime as quickly as they would like, are as frustrated as a paramedic who is trying to get a patient to hospital – and the causes of both are similar: years of underfunding.

“During the decade of cuts to policing, other public services were cut and much of what they previously did fell to the police. These ‘non crime’ activities have been added to policing remorselessly – finding children missing from children’s homes, responding to people in mental health crises, and so on.

“Too often the police – a 24-hour service – became not just the service of last resort but the service of only resort. The cost-of-living crisis affects police officers and staff like everyone else. The disastrous mini budget that led to increased borrowing costs and steep rises in mortgages was the last straw.

“Although some South Yorkshire police have been treated badly and disrespectfully by some members of the public, a recent survey I conducted indicated considerable support for the police and an appreciation of what they do to keep us safe.

“This year is a crunch year for public services, including the police. The consequences of years of neglect have become clear and we cannot carry on like this. The police – and other public servants – deserve decent pay and conditions, proper national plans and funding for the future, and appreciation and support from their government.”