Police Scotland faces a staffing crisis after 1000 frontline officers quit over 10-month period this year.
Police leaders have blamed the mass exodus on low morale caused by growing workloads and lack of job satisfaction. Opposition politicians have warned public safety will be at risk.
Scotland now has its lowest number of officers in 14 years and 700 below the figure committed to by the Scottish Government when the national force was created in 2013. Scottish Police Federation deputy general secretary David Kennedy said officers were desperate to leave and take their pensions, where in the past they would have been happy to work on.
He said: “It is not a nice job to be in at the moment and officers are deciding to take their pension and look for jobs elsewhere. They are saying they have had enough and don’t want do it any more. We were given a five per cent pay rise this year, which fell well short of inflation.”
Official data obtained by the Sunday Mail shows that 1029 officers retired between January and October – a rate of three a day. A total of 456 took advantage of new pension rules enabling officers to retire early without it affecting their benefits.
Scotland already has its lowest number of officers since 2008 and with numbers are currently around 16,570, almost 700 below the recommended figure of 17,241. Just 125 officers left the force between April 2021 and March 2022 while 72 left between April 2020 and March 2021.
Scottish Tory Shadow Justice Secretary Jamie Greene said: “The Scottish Government is continuing to preside over a brain drain of officers leaving Police Scotland. Fewer officers only puts public safety at risk.”
New pension rules – which came into place this year – allow cops to retire after serving 25 years instead of 30. That can mean lump-sum payouts of between £100,000 and £300,000 for all ranks up to chief superintendent. They can also retire on half their salary.
In April we revealed a six-week waiting list for officers to get their pension figures due to demand. The situation became so concerning that Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone took the step of writing to staff to ask them to make sure any change was the right move for them.
The Scottish Lib Dems’ deputy leader Wendy Chamberlain, a former police officer, said: “Despite violent crime being on the rise, Police Scotland have been plagued by a shortage of resources and funding. Huge numbers of officers have had enough and are calling it quits.”
Police Scotland said: “Retirement rates have created significant challenges and we are working hard to address these issues and maintain effective policing for the public we serve.”
The Scottish Government said: “Officer numbers fluctuate due to the cycle of recruitment and retirement but are still higher per head of population than in other parts of the UK. We have increased police funding year-on-year since 2016 and invested more than £13billion since the creation of Police Scotland in 2013.
"Our officers are the best paid in the UK, which recognises the hard work and dedication of the police workforce across Scotland.”
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