A significant number of Staffordshire recruits are walking away from policing before completing their probation, according to newly released data.
National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) figures obtained by Police Oracle show an average attrition rate nationally of 9.1 per cent – or 2,567 leavers from 28,173 new recruits.
In Staffordshire, the Force has lost 36 of the 404 new officers recruited since November 2019, which amounts to 8.9 per cent. Pay is likely to be a key factor, with many officers in their first year of a Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship earning £19,164 which is barely above the national living wage.
Phil Jones, chair of Staffordshire Police Federation, commented: “I’d like to say that I am surprised by the figures but sadly I cannot. We’ve said from the beginning that the uplift cannot be just about getting people through the door, the focus must be equally on retention otherwise we’re swimming against the tide.
“Our recruits are taking on a tough, demanding job, with long hours and stressful conditions and in many cases, they are earning the bare minimum – it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see why many would decide that policing is not the career for them. That’s sad because we are losing good people before they even get properly started.”
The Federation believes that better starting pay, more investment in mental health and wellbeing, better benefits and the most appropriate integrated learning that equips them for the reality of policing is required to hold on to recruits.
The Federation’s recent pay and morale survey for 2021 found that more than one in 10 police officers are not or almost never able to cover their monthly essentials, while almost half who intended to leave cited pay as the major reason.
The NPCC figures show that Staffordshire is almost exactly in line with the nine per cent national average currently of officers who leave before completing their probation.
At the top end of the figures was Northamptonshire, with a 19.3 per cent attrition during probation, followed by North Yorkshire on 16.8 per cent and Cambridgeshire at 16.1 per cent. The Met Police has lost 528 officers before completing probation – which is 7.9 per cent of its total recruits.
