Police morale at all-time low in Surrey - report

Up to 20% of officers who responded to the survey wanted to leave Surrey Police

Morale is at an “all-time low” in Surrey Police with up to 20% of officers wanting to leave, the Surrey Police Federation has said.

A national “pay and morale” survey carried out in November by the federation, which represents police at work, saw 460 out of 2,276 Surrey officers respond.

Out of the 460, 20% wanted to resign within the next two years or as soon as they could.

Adrian Rutherford, director of people services for Surrey and Sussex Police, said the force would be looking at what could be done to improve.

'Actively job-hunting'

The study found while officers received a 7% pay rise last year, they had seen a 16% real-terms pay cut since 2011.

Figures showed 85% felt “worse off” financially now than they did five years ago and 16% “never” or “almost never” had enough money for essentials.

The report said 84% of officers had experienced stress, low mood or anxiety and 69% found their workload “too high”.

Tom Arthur, Surrey Police Federation branch secretary, said: “This year shows yet again that officer morale stays at an all-time low, some 90% of those surveyed confirming this – with pay and feeling undervalued by the government being the main reasons.

“One in five of my colleagues in Surrey are actively seeking alternative employment.”

An inspection by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary found the force was monitoring resignations because of the “high number of police staff leavers”. However, December’s Peel report said Surrey Police “still lacks understanding of why recruits (or other staff) might leave".

Surrey Police said a recruitment drive had welcomed hundreds of officers and it had a strategy that placed officer and staff wellbeing “at the heart of the organisation”.

Mr Rutherford told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We are doing all that we can to ensure that we’re alleviating some of the pressures faced by those on the front line.

“We will be looking closely at the findings of the survey, alongside our recent internal employee opinion survey to look at what we can do to improve matters.”