Exclusive:Two cops a week resign from South Yorkshire Police, new figures reveal
“Retention is an issue that you can see across the country, including in South Yorkshire Police, and to deny that is a problem has hit badly with our officers”
Two police officers a week are leaving South Yorkshire Police, new figures reveal.
South Yorkshire Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, has revealed that 97 officers left South Yorkshire Police voluntarily last year.
Chairman Steve Kent said that police leaders who dismiss the high number of officers planning to leave the police service are “detached from reality”.
He spoke out after Jo Noakes, interim CEO of the College of Policing, described the risk of officers leaving the service as “relatively low” in her speech at the Police Superintendents’ Association conference in September.
Figures show that, in the past financial year, 4,751 police officers voluntarily left police forces in England and Wales – an increase on the previous year, when 4,688 officers left.
And – according to the Federation’s latest Police Wellbeing Survey – three in 10 police officers and staff say they intend to leave policing within the next year.
Ms Noakes said: “The data does show that we are still a really, really low turnover sector, and that is of course because it is a vocation. I talk to officers every day who love the job, do a really good job… we just need to be really careful not to take advantage of that and all have a responsibility in that.”
Ms Noakes’ comments were echoed later in the conference by Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe, Police Reform Lead at the National Police Chiefs’ Council, who said the service had “no problem” recruiting new officers.
AC Rolfe said: “Policing has no problem recruiting. Attrition is tracked clearly and tracked better than other public sectors.”
While she said the service must be “alive” to the numbers of people leaving, she said it was “better than other sectors”.
Mr Kent said: “This shows the absolute fantasy world that the College of Policing is living in. Retention is an issue that you can see across the country, including in South Yorkshire Police, and to deny that is a problem has hit badly with our officers.
“These are the organisations that are supposed to be leading policing, but they are so out of touch with what we are doing. It is a damning indictment and it’s seriously concerning that the person leading this organisation is coming out with things like this.”
He added: “I think the national Federation has to be more aggressive in holding them to account for comments like this, because it calls into question their fitness to lead those organisations – they are so detached from reality.
“I know officers in this force of all levels of service, including those with lots of experience, who are genuinely talking about leaving in their droves. I’m not saying it’s going to happen overnight, but the drip, drip, drip will start to be noticed, yet the College of Policing and HMIC and the Government aren’t acknowledging this. They need to wake up to the true state of policing.”
Chief Constable Lauren Poultney said: “Policing is an immensely rewarding career, but I recognise that it is also demanding, challenging and unpredictable.
“While we continue to attract high numbers of officers into policing, and the retention of officers within SYP is generally consistent, it is important to acknowledge the increasing challenges our hard-working officers face as part of their day-to-day duties.
“Every officer who leaves the force represents the loss of a valued colleague, but we also lose with them their important skills and experience.
“We closely monitor recruitment, retention and the reasons people choose to leave so that we can understand emerging pressures and maintain the officer levels needed to serve and protect the people of South Yorkshire.
“The recent National Police Workforce and Wellbeing Survey also emphasised concerns from officers regarding workloads and fatigue, and the effect these pressures can have on their wellbeing and personal lives. I am very aware that if concerns are not acted upon, they can at the extreme lead to officers choosing to leave the force, and therefore I take these concerns very seriously.
“Our responsibility is to create an environment in which new recruits want to join us, and that our current officers feel supported and valued in. I encourage our workforce to continue to speak honestly and openly about the issues affecting them, and we will also continue working with our workforce and staff associations, including the Police Federation, to understand the demands facing officers and identify where improvements are needed.
“Although decisions about police pay are made nationally, we remain focused on the issues we can influence locally, including wellbeing, workload and how our resources are deployed.
“We will continue to provide wellbeing support to anyone who needs it, while also developing a longer-term plan for further investment and improvement in wellbeing.
“We remain absolutely committed to protecting and sustaining the wellbeing of our officers while also maintaining the officer levels required to keep the communities of South Yorkshire safe.”