A RECORD number of police officers voluntarily resigned from West Yorkshire Police last year, new figures show.

The West Yorkshire Police Federation said "low morale and increasing workloads has clearly taken its toll on serving officers and they have voted with their feet and left".

Home Office figures show 162 full-time police officers voluntarily left West Yorkshire Police in the year to March. It is up from 131 the year before and the highest number since records began in 2006-07.

Including officers who retired or were fired, a total of 307 left the force last year.

It meant West Yorkshire Police had a leavers rate of 5.4 per cent, excluding transfers to other forces.

Across England and Wales, a record high 4,575 full-time officers voluntarily resigned from policing last year. This marked a 33 per cent increase from 3,433 in 2021-22.

Overall, the leavers rate also reached its highest level at 6.6 per cent.

Steve Hartshorn, national chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, described the figures as "worrying".

But he warned the figures echo the concerns raised by thousands of officers across the UK.

He said: "Our members are doing their utmost to protect the public, but demand is continuing to outstrip resources.

"It is paramount the service not only recruits, but retains, which will only be possible if pay and conditions are improved, to give members of the public the service they deserve."

He added: "The focus going forward needs to be on pay restoration."

The West Yorkshire Police Federation said responses to their survey showed 85 per cent of officers are ‘dissatisfied’ or very dissatisfied with their overall remuneration, including basic pay and allowances.

Around 86 per cent of the survey's participants felt that morale within West Yorkshire's force is currently ‘low’ or ‘very low'.

A spokesperson for the West Yorkshire Police Federation said: “The recent Home Office statistics highlighting the numbers of officers leaving the service is not surprising to the Federation.

"For many years, our Pay and Morale surveys have been highlighting the issues and concerns facing our members and things have come to a head.

“Poor pay, low morale and increasing workloads has clearly taken its toll on serving officers and they have voted with their feet and left.

“95 per cent of respondents from West Yorkshire Police said that they do not feel respected by the government which is evident from the track record of annual pay settlements. It will be interesting to see the trend in police leavers following this year’s pay award of 7 per cent.”

According to the West Yorkshire Police Federation, the turnover rate is now at its highest, met by a joiners rate of 11.1 per cent.

It meant the headcount for all forces increased from 140,200 officers in March 2022 to 147,400 in March of this year.

In West Yorkshire Police, the force grew from 5,680 officers in 2022 to 6,072 in 2023.

The West Yorkshire Police Federation has long called for an independent pay body, believing this would create real change and make pay reflective of the work and stress officers are put under.

The Federation said: “The Federation has long called for a truly independent and legally binding pay review body. Currently, the government can narrow the scope of the pay review body and can ignore its recommendations. For a workforce with no industrial rights, and limited employment rights, this is unacceptable.”

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We have delivered a record number of police officers across England and Wales. We made it very clear to police forces that this large investment means we expect officer numbers to be maintained and they should have robust plans in place to ensure this.

"Policing is a career like no other and our latest survey of new recruits showed 82 per cent of respondents were satisfied with the job and 77 per cent plan to stay in policing for the rest of their careers."