'I don’t think they care about policing': Government condemned as veteran officers plan to leave Hampshire force in droves over pay and conditions as morale reaches new low

A pay and morale survey conducted by the Police Federation of England and Wales showed many plan to quit the force. Salaries dwarfed by rampant inflation, stretched resources and a lack of respect from government and the public have been blamed.

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Zoe Wakefield, chair of the Hampshire Police Federation, believes nothing will change under the current government. She told The News: ‘I don’t have any confidence they will implement anything. I don’t think they care about policing.

‘Their priorities are elsewhere because of what’s happened over the last ten years.’

Out of the 839 Hampshire participants in the 2022 survey, 12 per cent plan to leave policing – rising from 10 per cent in 2021.

Roughly five per cent intend to resign within two years, with seven per cent actively looking for alternative employment. Ms Wakefield, chair since 2020, said it’s ‘concerning’ the same problems plaguing forces for years are still happening.

‘We are seeing a lot of experienced officers leaving. Our pay has been cut consistently, and it's just got to the point where people are putting their families first.

‘The work is just unrelenting and that is obviously taking its toll on officers.’ The 49-year-old added the constant ‘hammering’ police receive in the media is having an impact.

She said young officers are being retained at their usual rates, but a lack of veteran colleagues is causing problems. ‘It is quite scary when you look at the lack of experience on the front line,’ she said.

‘We have shifts where the average length of service is less than five years.’ In the survey, 92 per cent of officers felt a lack of respect from government and 72 per cent from the public.

Police forces cannot legally strike and Ms Wakefield said officers feel lost because they’re struggling to make their voices heard; real terms pay being cut by roughly 13 per cent over the last decade. ‘We have an independent pay process but the government keeps interfering with that,’ she added.

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‘Officers are seeing their friend’s pay go up while they are often struggling to make ends meet. We are bound by police regulations and can’t do anything that can damage the reputation of the force.

‘Officers are very stuck with what they can and can’t do to try and influence or change anything.’

The 49-year-old said more has to be done to restore public confidence; damaged by high-profile Metropolitan police cases and a lack of resources eroding response times. She added despite 20,000 new officers being funded by ex-prime minister Boris Johnson, numbers are still low.

‘They’re very quick to criticise when things go wrong, but they are not willing to put money behind it and make things better,’ she added.

A Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary spokesman said problems raised in the survey were ‘very real’ and it’s important that a ‘first class well-being offer’ is in place to support workers. He added employees are ‘concerned about their finances’ and are their mental and physical health is being supported.

‘Policing is a challenging environment and our officers and staff deliver on a daily basis despite having to undertake challenging roles, often in difficult circumstances,’ he said.