16/09/2026
Concerns over the number of officers wanting to leave the police service were dismissed at the Superintendents’ Association conference in Stratford this week.
Figures show that in the last financial year, 4,751 police officers voluntarily left the police forces in England and Wales – an increase on the previous year when 4,688 officers left.
And – according to the latest Police Wellbeing Survey - three in 10 police officers and staff say they intend to leave policing within the next year
However Jo Noakes, the interim CEO of the College of Policing, did not share concerns from delegates, describing the risk of officers leaving the service as “relatively low”.
Ms Noakes said: “The data does show that we are still a really, really low turnover sector and that is of course because it is a vocation. I talk to officers everyday who love the job, do a really good job… we just need to be really careful not to take advantage of that and all have a responsibility in that.”
She added “people come into policing because they want to make a difference, they do make a difference and they love it”.
Ms Noakes’ comments were echoed later in the conference by Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe, Police Reform Lead at the National Police Chiefs’ Council, who said the service had “no problem” recruiting new officers.
AC Rolfe said: “Policing has no problem recruiting. Attrition is tracked clearly and tracked better than other public sectors.”
While she said the service must be “alive” to the numbers of people leaving, she said it was “better than other sectors”.
In the Police Wellbeing Survey, those saying they wanted to leave policing blamed poor work/life balance, poor pay and weak leadership are cited as the most common reasons.
At the conference, delegates heard from a Staffordshire Police Superintendent who pointed out the additional financial pressures lower paid officers face following years of below-inflation pay rises leaving police pay flagging behind other public sectors.
He said: “Are we serious about investing in young officers and making this career attractive, or are we making a decision to make people sign up for five years and have a constant churn of people leaving?”
NPCC Chair Gavin Stephens said: “I am not in the camp that this should be a job for five years. Let’s get people into policing and stick with us as long as they can.
“We have to have this as a profession that’s well rewarded. We need to start by reforming the workforce and then getting better pay structure that rewards people better for their skills.”
