Rates of Police leavers

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.034456

I note you seek access to the following information:

I am writing to you about police leaver rates during the years 2020 - 2023.

1. In the years 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, how many constables were accepted onto the following training courses?

• the Degree Holder Entry Programme,
• the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship,
• the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme?
Please provide these figures in a spreadsheet.

2. In the years 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, how many constables voluntarily resigned whilst on:

• the Degree Holder Entry Programme
• the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship
• the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme
Please provide these figures in the same spreadsheet as above.

3. For the years 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, please break down the number of voluntary resignations by length of service:

• Less than 1 year
• 1 - 5 years
• 5 - 10 years
• 10 - 15 years
• 15 - 20 years
• 20 - 25 years
• 25 - 30 years

4. Provide a short analysis explaining the key reasons for voluntary resignations derived from exit interviews or surveys.

5. Provide a summary of actions taken to improve police officer retention.

If anything in this request is unclear or you feel that a substantive response is not possible within a reasonable time frame, I would be grateful if you could provide assistance as to how I could refine the request.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

In regards to questions 1, 2 and 3 please see the below tables:

Q1 - In the years 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, how many constables were accepted onto the following training courses?

• the Degree Holder Entry Programme,
• the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship,
• the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme?
Please provide these figures in a spreadsheet.

Q2 - In the years 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, how many constables voluntarily resigned whilst on:

• the Degree Holder Entry Programme
• the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship
• the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme
Please provide these figures in the same spreadsheet as above.

Q3 - For the years 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, please break down the number of voluntary resignations by length of service:
• Less than 1 year
• 1 - 5 years
• 5 - 10 years
• 10 - 15 years
• 15 - 20 years
• 20 - 25 years
• 25 - 30 years

Joining Type	2020	2021	2022	2023	Total Per Joining Type
Degree Holder Entry Pathway	0	21	98	138	257
Degree Holder Entry Pathway (Detective)	0	8	141	205	354
Direct Entry Detective Pathway	51	67	49	54	221
Initial Police Learning and Development Programme +	0	7	70	92	169
Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (Experienced)	0	0	7	5	12
Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (No Experience)	0	40	131	141	312
Police- Direct Entrant (H.O. Graduate Entry Scheme)	0	1	0	0	1
Police- Direct Entrant (MPS Graduate Entry Scheme)	2	1	4	2	9
Police- Direct Entrant (Not H.O. Graduate Entry Scheme)	123	107	127	117	474
Total Per Year	176	252	627	754	1809

 

Years	2020	2021	2022	2023	Total by LOS
< 1 Year	276	163	347	308	1094
1 to < 5 Years	168	322	475	533	1498
5 to < 10years	61	71	114	125	371
10 to < 15 Years	68	57	62	67	254
15 - < 20 Years	69	65	92	77	303
20 - < 25 Years	18	12	27	34	91
25 Years +	6	4	9	4	23
Total By Years	666	694	1126	1148	3634

Q4 - Provide a short analysis explaining the key reasons for voluntary resignations derived from exit interviews or surveys.

The Exit Survey has now been open for around 2 years, having been commissioned in Dec-21. The Exit Survey is run by an external provider for the purpose of independence. People are invited to complete the survey when their leaver notification has been activated on the Met's human resources record. The survey is sent to people who resign, retire or leave to join another police constabulary.

The data from the Exit Survey is only accessible via a secure portal managed by the survey provider; all available data is aggregated and where a group has less than 6 cases then the information is not included to protect anonymity.

Since the survey has been active there have been around 2360 voluntary resignations from police officers. The survey was completed by around 667 police officers who had resigned, giving a response rate of 28%; therefore, the survey was not completed by around 72% of police officers who resigned. The high number of people who have not responded means that the results from the Exit Survey should be treated with caution.

The Exit Survey provides participants with a list of options for the main reason for leaving and requires them to select one reason (see chart for summary of results).

The most selected reason for leaving was 'Disillusionment with policing or the Met' which accounted for 151 (23.2%) responses; the second main reason was 'Work-life balance' which accounted for 75 (11.5%) responses, then 'Attractive job opportunity elsewhere' for 71 (10.9%) responses and ‘Wanted a career change’ for 63 (9.7%) responses. A total of 98 (15.1%) selected 'Other'; reasons within this category included relocation within the UK or abroad to be closer to family, increased caring responsibilities, as well as excessive commuting / travel to work, and cost of accommodation in or near London.

Q5 - Provide a summary of actions taken to improve police officer retention.

As part of our retention strategy we have a leadership retention toolkit to support leaders with tips and interventions to manage attrition locally. We have piloted ‘stay interviews’ incorporating good practice from Greater Manchester Police. Stay interviews can be requested by individuals who are thinking of leaving and are undertaken by our Career Development Leads (who are independent from line managers), this gives us the opportunity to intervene where appropriate prior to people resigning. We are investing in stronger career management as we know this is one of the reasons people leave. Finally, we know that attrition is highest during years 0-2 of service – so we have undertaken a review of recruit training and are making some improvements to improve the support and recruit experience.