Police morale poor in Gloucestershire
Staff survey shows employees unhappy before turmoil and job cut threats
Police morale was low before plans to cut jobs were announced and the recent turmoil at the top of Gloucestershire Constabulary, a staff survey shows. A survey conducted by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire in June last year shows overall morale of the 495 people who took part was four out of ten.
In some departments that was as low as three. And more than 15 per cent, some 77 of those who took part, say they had been bullied or harassed in the 12 months prior to the survey.
The staff survey report was presented at today’s (March 10) police and crime panel meeting at Shire Hall.
Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner Chris Nelson was asked if the results came as a surprise to him, and what his perception of the current morale in the force is given that dozens of jobs face the chop amid moves to plug a £12.3m financial gap since it was conducted.
Mr Nelson conceded that “morale isn’t brilliant” at Gloucestershire Constabulary.
And he is committed to conducting another survey but said the force is “quite volatile at the moment.”
“Morale is not brilliant,” he said. “It wasn’t brilliant for the survey.
“And there have been a number of other things going on. This is going to be a tough year so it will take a little while before the force will be where I’d like it to be.”
Independent Councillor Philip Burford (Hartpury and Redmarley) asked what Mr Nelson’s perception of morale was currently at the force.
He asked this as the survey was undertaken before the suspension, which has since been lifted, of chief constable Rod Hansen, the need to find savings was identified and the prospect of dozens of staff facing the prospect of losing their jobs.
Shortly after the suspension of the chief officer in October, insiders at the constabulary said morale within the force was at “rock bottom”.
Cllr Burford told the panel he is “always suspicious of these kind of surveys”.
“My long standing view in industry and elsewhere is that if he chief doesn’t know what his workforce is thinking, quite frankly you possibly need a different chief.
“To have to get a survey to find out what the people who work for you are thinking about you is a condemnation in itself.
“However, this survey was done before the suspension of the chief officer. And also before what we all understand is being a difficult budget round.
“And of course, before the reduction in police community support officers (PCSOs) and police staff became common knowledge.
“Given all of those things, what is your perception of the views within the constabulary now, compared to when the survey was done?”.
Mr Nelson said he was pleased the survey was done but that there was a danger in responding to some aspects of his question.
“It would be premature to make observations,” he said.
“Relating to the chief while this investigation is going on at the moment. The force is quite volatile at the moment.
“There is so much change going on. It’s hard to keep your finger on the pulse when there is so much going on.
“There are some big changes that will flow from the budget. I can’t be drawn into what those changes are.
“But I’m hopeful within weeks we could be free and out of the internal consultation.”
He said by then he is hopeful they will know what funding they will receive from the Home Office and for neighbourhood policing.
Cllr Burford also asked if the results of the survey came as a surprise to Mr Nelson. He replied saying that to give a simple answer would be wrong.
“When I came back after being re-elected last May, I sensed there were things going on in the constabulary that weren’t right,” Mr Nelson said.
He said after doing “wide ranging” interviews with staff of different ranks, his fears and suspicions “were confirmed”.
“I wanted to substantiate that statistically,” he said. “The team has done that really well.”
He also said the survey confirmed to him that the constabulary’s cultural issues were something “we still needed to sort out”.
Becky Beard, OPCC assistant chief executive, told the meeting a lot of the staff felt police bosses “were not really listening to them”.
They said police felt “they were getting battered in the media a lot”.
“It was a feeling that communications internally and externally were not helping with that morale.”
Staff also highlighted a need for better resources and they said poor equipment and a lack of modern IT equipment is hindering officers.
The training of new officers is also having an impact on their wellbeing.
“Teams within the force appear to be stretched far too thinly, some individuals within teams are taking on far more than others,” one of the staff survey respondents said.
While another said morale within the constabulary is low “because our day to day work is being affected by issues that we should not be having to consider, for example worrying about correct holiday and pay”.
Chief executive Ruth Greenwood said the public was seeing a more honest debate about what it’s like to be a police officer.
She said the survey is part of that and the response from the constabulary’s leadership is more honest and transparent.
“It is tough, it is really, really tough,” she said. “And pretending that everything is going to be OK. I just think we are past that.
“We have to be honest with the public.” She said there was a longstanding tradition in policing to say “OK, we’ll be fine and carry on” when facing financial challenges.
“Part of that is about not upsetting and putting fear into communities. We are kind of beyond that now.
“We’ve seen nationally, chief after chief coming out and saying this budget this year is really difficult.
“It’s right that we do that and we support our chief officers in doing that because that is what is being felt within the force.
“That is what officers are feeling when the cases that they hold are growing and the complexity of the jobs they are dealing with.”
Chairman Steve Robinson (L, Nailsworth) said the survey did not make good reading and he is particularly concerned about the low morale in the lower ranks.
The OPCC has come up with nine recommendations to address the issues raised by the staff survey.
They have committed to increasing the frequency of visits to all departments by senior leaders, being more balanced and transparent in their communications and developing a cultural action plan.
The recommendations also include using the survey to inform future ones focussed on improving well being as well as improving the communication of criminal justice processes, outcomes and other information to the public.