A SURVEY carried out by the Police Federation of England and Wales has revealed many officers worry about money 'almost every day'.

The national police federation introduced the 'Pay and Morale Survey' in 2014 to give officers the opportunity to highlight concerns about their income and levels of morale within the force.

In this year's survey, 43 per cent of officers in Gloucestershire said they regularly worry about their personal finances, with 11 per cent of respondents reporting they never or almost never have enough money to cover all their essentials.

Over a third (37 per cent) said their own morale is low, but this figure showed an improvement on last year, when it was at 44 per cent.

And 70 per cent of those who responded said they felt morale within the force is low or very low, but this also showed improvement on last year, when the figure was 80 per cent.

Gloucestershire Police Federation chairman Mike Harrison said the survey results were encouraging when compared to other forces across England and Wales - but that some figures were still alarming.

“We followed the national trends when it came to answers around pay and remuneration, with 71 per cent of respondents saying they are dissatisfied with their remuneration.

"Coupled with pensions this is something we as a force and a federation have little influence over,” he said.

“Locally all of the figures are encouraging, and it is worth noting that in almost all the areas we fair better than our regional counterparts – a testimony to how our force operates and the leadership that is displayed.

“However, alarmingly 11 per cent of Gloucestershire respondents stated they never or almost never have enough money to cover their essentials.

"This is something I take very seriously and am deeply concerned about. Although it is well below the national average of 51 per cent it is still not acceptable.

“I will look at this over the coming months with our colleagues in the Police Mutual Assurance Society and our other partners to see what we can do at a local level to reduce that figure and to ensure officers and their families are not left in this position.”

308 responses were received from Gloucestershire Police, representing a response rate of around 28 per cent.

Other results included that 60 per cent of respondents said that they would not recommend joining the police to others.

And eight per cent said they had an intention to leave the police service either within the next two years or as soon as possible.

Mr Harrison added: “Morale has seen an increase which is positive and although some figures seem high Gloucestershire was placed at number two in the country.

“What is disappointing is that 60 per cent of Gloucestershire respondents said they would not recommend joining the police to others, although this is a drop from last year. I think pay, pensions and general feelings nationally towards the police have contributed to this. For many, policing is no longer a vocation.

“Eight per cent of our respondents stated they intended to leave the police as soon as possible or in the next two years, with 76 per cent stating this was because of the impact of the job on health and wellbeing.

“I would be interested to see what the survey says in 2020, because the rewards are starting to be seen with the employment of a new force welfare support officer, who has already made a real difference to staff and their welfare.

“One area that really stands out in Gloucestershire is how staff see themselves treated fairly. 49 per cent of our respondents agreed they were treated fairly, and 49 per cent saw others being treated fairly in the organisation. When this is compared to the national average of 34 per cent this, I believe, sets us apart.

“Our supportive leadership programme which has been introduced over the past few years is clearly taking effect and is clearly working and overall I see how encouraging our figures are, thanks to the great work by our members and supportive programmes we have in place.

“Gloucestershire is a county force to be proud of and one that is clearly an employer of choice nationally.”

See the full survey results here polfed.org/media/15391/gloucestershire-pay-and-morale-force-report-2019-6-11-19-v1.pdf