Force second lowest in terms of morale.
An overwhelming 98 per cent of Bedfordshire Police Federation members responding to a pay and morale survey said they felt morale was low in the Force, ranking the Force second in this indicator when compared with the other 42 forces across England and Wales.
By contrast, 60.9 per cent of officers said their personal morale was low.
In terms of the reasons for low morale, the Bedfordshire officers’ responses were as follows:
- How the police as a whole are treated, 86.8 per cent
- Pay and benefits (including pension), 67.3 per cent
- Work-life balance, 63.9 per cent
- Health and wellbeing, 61.5 per cent
- Workload and responsibilities, 61.3 per cent
- Opportunities for development and promotion, 56.9 per cent
- Treatment by senior managers, 54.1 per cent
- Day to day job role, 49.5 per cent
Emma Carter, secretary of Bedfordshire Police Federation which represents the Force’s constables, sergeants and inspecting ranks, says she is concerned but not surprised by the survey results.
"We have been saying for some time that the cuts to policing budgets are not just affecting the service we can provide to the public but also the wellbeing of police officers,” Emma explains, “Over the last year we have seen increased demand and a shift in the nature of the incidents that our members deal with resulting in officers’ rest days being cancelled and development opportunities stopped. Our members are simply worn out; budget cuts have consequences."
"The fact that our officers are reporting low Force morale shows the effects Force funding restrictions are having. My fear is that we are going to see more and more officers wanting to leave due to the concerns they are highlighting in these survey responses."
"Although our numbers of officers overall are relatively stable due to continued recruitment, the number of experienced officers who are leaving the service is worrying. It is the experience of those officers that helps develop our young in service officers and the fact that we are losing all that experience and knowledge needs to be addressed."
The results of the survey, which was carried out by the Police Federation of England and Wales, also showed that of the Bedfordshire respondants:
- 84.5 per cent did not feel they were paid fairly for the stresses and strains of the job
- 71.2 per cent felt their workload had increased in the last 12 months
- 69.2 per cent said that workload was too high
- 67.8 per cent felt they were worse off financially than 12 months ago
- Nearly three quarters (74.5 per cent) would not recommend joining the service to others
- 68.6 per cent said they did not feel valued – meaning the Force ranks eighth out of 43 forces for this indicator
Worryingly, the Force ranked fourth when respondents were asked if they were planning to leave the service in the next two years – with 16.1 per cent saying they were planning on leaving, and a further 16.1 per cent saying they currently do not know what their intentions are with regards to staying in or leaving the police.
The main reasons given for intending to leave were: personal morale (87.5 per cent); how the police are treated as a whole (77.4 per cent) and the impact of the job on health and wellbeing (71 per cent).
A total of, 33.5 per cent of officers from the Force who responded said they felt they are fairly treated, and another 33.5 per cent said they did not think they were fairly treated.
And, just 18.7 per cent said decisions that affected them were usually made in a fair way; whereas 50.2 per cent said that decisions that affected them were not usually made in a fair way.
Furthermore, 27.7 per cent of respondents from Bedfordshire Police said that overall, the people they worked with were fairly treated; in contrast to 44.1 per cent who said that the people they worked with were not fairly treated.
Bedfordshire ranks second out of 43 forces in this area which means there are 41 forces with a smaller proportion of respondents who felt that the people they worked with were not treated fairly.
A total of 231 responses were received from Bedfordshire officers, representing a response rate of around 21 per cent, the national response rate for the survey, which is carried out annually and is used as evidence in the Federation’s submission to the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB), was 25 per cent.
