Police: Resignations
(asked on 3rd July 2025) - View Source
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many police officers left the force in the past 12 months, broken down by how many served (1) for less than 12 months, (2) between 12 months and 5 years, (3) between 5 years and 10 years, and (4) over 10 years.
The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the number of police officer leavers in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.
Information on the length of service of leavers is available in table JL6 of the data tables accompanying the publication.
Table 1 below shows the number of police officer leavers, by length of service, in England and Wales for the year ending 31 March 2024. In the year ending 31 March 2024 there were 9,236 police officers leaving the police forces in England and Wales. 16.2% of all leavers had less than 1 years service, while 12.3% of all leavers had more than 30 years service.
Table 1: Police officer leavers (headcount) by length of service in the year ending 31 March 2024, England and Wales.
Length of service | Headcount Officer leavers | % of all leavers |
Less than 1 year | 1,495 | 16.2% |
1 to 2 years | 1,082 | 11.7% |
2 to 3 years | 606 | 6.6% |
3 to 4 years | 484 | 5.2% |
4 to 5 years | 297 | 3.2% |
5 to 10 years | 674 | 7.3% |
10 to 15 years | 393 | 4.3% |
15 to 20 years | 749 | 8.1% |
20 to 25 years | 1,028 | 11.1% |
25 to 30 years | 1,289 | 14.0% |
30 years or over | 1,139 | 12.3% |
Total | 9,236 | 100.0% |
Note:
- Excludes transfers
Data on police officer leavers for the year ending 31 March 2025 will be published on 23 July 2025.
Retention is a key focus for the Home Office and the NPCC and forces should be using evidence-based strategies to manage the retention and progression of existing officers, as well as continuing to recruit new officers.