PSA President Nick Smart has commented following the publication of the HMICFRS 'State of Policing 2023' Report:

“This report is a critical document in understanding the many complex issues connected to our police service. We are a service full of committed, dedicated public servants, doing their utmost to protect others, and I am glad that this is recognised alongside the issues explored. We submitted our own evidence and feedback as part of the assessment process and strongly agree with many of the findings outlined. Our concerns now, are over how this report and its recommendations are received, and how quickly a detailed and outcomes-focused action plan can be developed in response.

“We support a focus on the fundamental role of policing in terms of responding to calls for help quickly, and treating victims with the high level of service they deserve.   However, there are a multitude of reasons for why this may not be happening in the way every police officer or member of staff would strive for. The public pick up the phone when they need us, and too often we cannot meet their expectations because we are stretched beyond capacity every day. Austerity saw police numbers stripped back from approximately 144,000 to 122,000. There has been no uplift – simply a replacement of experienced officers with 20,000 new recruits. In real terms, as of March 2023, the officer headcount was 2.4% (3,536) above the 2010 level. This equates to a yearly increase of 258 officers nationally, or 6 officers per force in England and Wales – a clear under-investment in policing. 

 

“The report rightly focuses on the low morale of the workforce, something we have raised as a critical issue now for years. A tired, de-motivated, over-worked and under-valued workforce will not perform to its best ability and communities will suffer, whilst also losing faith in us. These matters are connected, and both must be addressed. 

                                                                                                                                                                             

“There is reference to the high workloads and limited experience of police officers. This continues to be exacerbated by the gap left by other agencies and the resulting impact on police. For years, we have called for a determination of the police mission, which would define our core role and responsibility, preventing us from picking up issues left by other sectors. We cannot continue to be a backstop for others, whilst seeing no reduction in our own core demand. We need an urgent review of the police mission this year. Picking up other agencies’ demand is detracting from our core service delivery.  

 

“There is a focus on leadership within the report, and as the representative body for superintendents who are the service’s most senior operational leaders, we welcome this. The report highlights the need for strong leadership in relation to the success of the workforce, and our members have a duty to lead by example. However, our rank are outliers in terms of levels of burnout, stress and anxiety, evidenced in our recent psychological risk assessments, and many report both low personal morale and low force morale. We need to support our leaders in the same way that we support every other rank, to encourage and motivate them to lead with pride. We need to understand where the gaps are in occupational health support for all ranks, achieved through a thematic inspection to establish a baseline. 

 

“Funding remains central to many of the issues covered, and overall police funding and police pay should be reviewed with urgency. 

 

“We welcome the investment in many of our public services that has been promised in recent weeks, but there is no mention of additional funding for policing to meet budget deficits and strengthen our infrastructure. It is our view that policing must be treated as a priority service. Currently we do not have the funding or resources to respond to everything required of us, and our people are underpaid. 
 
“In our response to the PRRB this year, we called for a fully funded, above inflation pay award that is applied equally across all ranks, and a longer-term strategy linked to a future multiyear settlement aligned to the next comprehensive spending review, that continues to reduce real term pay cuts. This long-term approach to police funding has been lacking for years and now we have a clear opportunity for policing to be seen as a priority for government moving forward. Forces need to be able to make informed, strategic decisions around funding that lead to real change, and we need to be supported with a long-term commitment to police pay that fairly rewards our people for the unique and demanding work we ask them to deliver. 

“Going forward, we hope to be able to work with Andy Cooke and his wider team to share the insights and evidence of our members, and help influence positive change.”

The full HMICFRS report can be accessed here.