PFEW launches annual pay and morale survey

EVERY federated police officer in Essex has been encouraged to fill in this year’s pay and morale survey.

The Police Federation of England and Wales has sent the link to the 15-minute questionnaire to every officer in the hope to gauge a better overview of the service.

Past surveys have helped the Federation fight for important issues such as increases to the South East Allowance, public holiday pay and the Away from Home Overnight Allowance.

Steve Taylor, Essex Police Federation Chairman, said: “I would encourage all our members to take the 15 minutes or so it takes to complete the survey, and send it back through their own personal email, so that the people at the centre are best placed with authority to speak about what the morale is like out there.

“It is only by taking the time to complete these surveys that you give the national federation the information they need to try and bring the changes that we’d like to see.”

Morale has taken a nosedive in recent years – thanks to unprecedented cuts, pay freezes and changes to pensions – but Mr Taylor said things were looking up.

He said: “I think the place we find ourselves at the moment, having been going through the cuts that we’ve suffered, and the dark times in our recent memories, the general trend of morale is upwards. It is almost as if things can’t get that much worse. You start to see the positives, things start to get that little bit better again at the local level.”

Speaking as the survey was released this month, PFEW General Secretary Andy Fittes said: “Members, your opinion matters to us so please do have your say. This survey is the only annual police workforce survey to gather consistent data on officers’ experiences across all 43 forces. The more members that complete this questionnaire, the more strength it will give us to keep people at the highest levels of policing informed of our members’ point of view.”

Officers have until 18 May to take part in the survey.