Sussex Police 'not suitably funded' to meet basic policing needs in county, federation claims

The claim comes alongside new federation figures which suggest 273 new recruits joined the force last year, but 143 moved on – meaning it may not be growing fast enough to meet demands.

“It’s a vicious cycle of demand vs capacity,” said Sussex Police Federation Chair Raffaele Cioffi. “Constables aren’t robots, they are humans. The amount of work that is expected of our members is now significantly more than in the past. There is only so much trauma and strain that any individual can handle.”

A spokesperson for Sussex Police said recruitment measures remain robust, with an adequate supply of candidates in the pipeline and workplace plans designed to accommodate for changes to staffing levels.

"The force has a range of Attraction activity happening and continue to be present within the communities of Sussex, to ensure we are attracting prospective candidates to maintain our numbers,” they said.

“Its Attraction Team regularly attend colleges, universities, job centres, and targeted events such as the Armed Forces and career fairs, as well as utilising social media to gain interest in the force and the role of police officer.”

Recruitment in Sussex Police is actually well over national targets; with 3,263 on staff as of September 30 2024, measured against an ‘enhanced’ retention target of 3,226, but the Federation says neither staffing levels nor targets reflect the modern reality of boots on the ground policing.

"Society has changed and we are required to record more and expect higher standards from our police forces and in turn that creates a huge amount of demand for our member through bureaucracy in the office and the mental and physical demand on the street,” Cioffi said.

“On the backdrop of a salary that isn’t – frankly - at the very beginning that attractive to individuals to be able to sustain your basic needs such as food, shelter and a decent living standard for the member and their families. Especially here in the southeast.

“And again with high demand and not enough officers, you have an organisation pushing you and driving you to do more and more, due to external strains. It’s creating an impossible standard to achieve with the number of resources that we have. And therefore you’re left to think ‘why am I doing this?’

“The main message is that the funding formula is not working. We are not suitably funded to provide the amount of officers that is required to meet the basic needs of Sussex. Those MPs that are new to their role really have to start looking at the funding formula because Sussex is a huge county and we need more resources in order to deliver an outstanding police service as they expect. Otherwise they need to accept that we are going to tailor our policing to the resources we have.”

A leaver’s survey conducted by the national federation – the Police Federation of England and Wales – reflects some of what Cioffi says, revealing that, nationwide 27 per cent of police officers are resigning before reaching pension age, citing low morale and poor job satisfaction.