As Morale Hits Rock Bottom, UK Police Exodus Throws Planned Expansion Into Disarray

Britain’s Labour party's ambitious plan to put 13,000 extra police officers on the streets is "unobtainable" - as officers are quitting in record numbers, The Telegraph reports.

According to Tiff Lynch, the acting chairwoman of the Police Federation, the situation is dire - with Home Office figures showing that voluntary resignations among police officers have hit an all-time high, with more than 5,000 quitting last year - 3.4% of the workforce, which is more than double the rate of just four years ago. What’s worse, a Federation survey found that 20% of officers are planning to leave within the next two years or sooner, adding up to nearly 29,000 officers ready to walk out.

"They have suffered an almost 20 per cent pay cut in real terms since 2010. How can this be fair?" said Lynch," who notes that this year’s 4.75% pay rise was far below the 6% recommended by the National Police Chiefs’ Council. Further deepening resentment is the fact that millions of other public sector workers received more generous raises.

"The Government has made very clear its current policing priority is taking back our streets, through investment in extra neighbourhood police officers, to drive down the crimes blighting our local communities including antisocial behaviour and shocking levels of shoplifting," said Lynch.

"In its own words, ‘victims are being let down’. The only way to achieve this is through a sustained recruitment and retention programme. But I am concerned with the current track record in attrition rates, it seems unattainable."

The federation - which represents grassroots officers up to the rank of chief inspector, is demanding the reinstatement of collective pay bargaining, a system that allowed officers to negotiate pay directly with their employers. Instead, since 2014, the Police Remuneration Review Body has set pay levels with no means for officers to negotiate or even arbitrate when disputes arise. The Federation has boycotted this body since 2021. Lynch has warned that if the government doesn’t agree to reinstate collective bargaining, the Federation will ballot its 150,000 members on whether they want to seek the right to take industrial action.

The consequences of this pay dispute are already evident. In the year leading up to March 2024, 9,080 officers left the force - 6.2% of the workforce, and the second highest on record. While recruitment efforts have so far managed to offset some of these losses, with overall police numbers rising by 0.2% to 147,746, Lynch says that without a sustained recruitment-and-retention strategy, Labour’s target of 13,000 extra neighborhood police is simply unattainable.

According to the report, morale is at rock bottom.

A Home Office spokesman responded by saying that "This Government will work collaboratively with policing to address challenges and ensure officers have the right support, resources and recognition – and to improve standards.

"As part of our mission to deliver safer streets, we will restore neighbourhood policing and support forces to rebuild relationships with their local communities."

But for many frontline officers, these promises feel like too little, too late. Unless real change comes soon, the exodus of officers will continue - and with it, the hopes of restoring neighborhood policing may slip further out of reach.