The Police Federation’s latest pay and morale survey reveals a worrying picture of low morale, hardship and poor mental health and wellbeing in Staffordshire.
The survey, carried out across all 43 forces in England and Wales in November last year, found that 37 per cent of Staffordshire officers are regularly worrying about the state of their personal finances, with 11 per cent saying they never, or almost never, had enough money to cover their monthly essentials. More than three quarters (77 per cent) feel worse off now than they did five years ago.
The same number are dissatisfied with their overall remuneration (including basic pay and allowances) with 93 per cent (85 per cent in 2020) saying they did not feel they were fairly paid for the stresses and strains of the job.
A total 62 per cent of respondents reported poor personal morale, compared to 54 per cent in 2020 and 93 per cent reported low Force morale, up from 85 per cent in 2020.
Reasons cited for low morale by Staffordshire officers were:
- How the police are treated by the Government – 96 per cent
- How the police are treated by the public – 88 per cent
- Pay – 80 per cent
- Pension – 79 per cent
- Work-life balance – 68 per cent
- Workload and responsibilities – 67 per cent
- The pandemic – 63 per cent.
Phil Jones, chair of Staffordshire Police Federation, said: “These findings are a sad indictment of the state of policing today. My colleagues more than stepped up during the pandemic and faced rising levels of assaults and almost unenforceable legislation.
“The Government then ‘rewarded’ officers with a pay freeze so it should not be a surprise to anyone that 95 per cent of my colleagues are saying that they do not feel respected by the Government, and a significant number are considering leaving.”
Phil added: “People are our most valued asset and those in power need to realise if they continue to take police officers for granted the service will become less and less attractive as a career. This needs to be urgently addressed through better pay and a new focus on the wellbeing of colleagues – only then will we have a police service that can effectively serve its communities.”
The survey also revealed that 66 per cent of Staffordshire officers feel their workload has been too high or much too high with 13 per cent planning to resign from policing within the next two years. Almost 80 per cent would not recommend policing as a career.
