Levels of wellbeing in UK policing are a serious concern. Oscar Kilo the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS), recently published results of their comprehensive 2025 National Police Wellbeing Survey.
It is clearly evident a huge effort has been made to collate meaningful data to support improvements in wellbeing. That’s why I’ve done for you an in-depth podcast in which I convey key results and their impact on you as an aspiring police leader.
I have previously summarised Oscar Kilo’s work and queried whether police officers and staff are thriving or surviving. This new report gives an updated position on police wellbeing, along with some entirely new insights and analysis. Understanding this stuff will also aid your emotional awareness.
Like all my free podcasts (except for interviews with Chief Officers), this was initially published to subscribers only. But now it’s available more widely, here’s the highlights…
Survey Attracts 40,000 Responses
These wellbeing report findings are described as the largest ‘employee voice’ exercise in UK policing to date.
Over 40,000 police officers and staff from 31 forces took the time to respond to this flagship survey, sharing their experiences of wellbeing support (or otherwise) in policing. Such numbers are highly representative of the service statistically and dangerous for leaders to ignore.
At 91 pages, the survey is not for the faint-hearted, hence I take you through the highlights and implications for you in this podcast. While focused on police wellbeing, it also covers a broad range of related factors including engagement, service leadership, organisational climate/culture, work and manager support, pay, motivation, promotion, and much more.
The results paint a blunt picture of the pressures facing the workforce, reinforcing the findings of the Police Federation of England and Wales’s (PFEW) annual Pay and Morale survey findings. Such pressures include physical exhaustion, emotional exhaustion and stress about their financial situation. One Federation Chair said the results of this year’s NPWS Survey “come as little surprise”.
Yet again, these results indicate a warning for the police service, as sickness rates and turnover continue to increase. But it’s also a call to action for any aspiring or existing leader to make a difference for the good.
Police Wellbeing: A Verbal Walkthrough
In this substantial deep-dive podcast, I talk you through some of the main findings, offering commentary, insights and observations. This is especially relevant if you’re in or aspiring to a police leadership position or seeking police promotion. It’s such a significant survey and report, I’ve dedicated a couple of hours to this particular podcast.
If you are an aspiring leader, especially a hopeful promotion candidate aiming at career progression, it’s inconceivable to me that you would not spend some time to absorb and reflect on the subject matter. As we all inherently know, a healthy workforce culture creates better wellbeing for those charged with delivering public service.
Culture -> Wellbeing -> Service
I’m proud when I hear from the many officers subscribing to my Rank Success Police Promotion and Leadership podcast, who go on to achieve success in competitive force selection processes.
“Passed Inspector 1st go! I found your podcasts invaluable. Easy to listen to & put me in the right mindset. Lots of info & nuggets in them. I’ll be keeping my subscription for CPD. Many thanks.” – Davey
Other officers elaborate on how these podcasts and my premium toolkits support effective preparation for promotion opportunities, feedback I use to adapt content over time to focus on the most relevant things and ensure my services remain the best available in the UK. As such, many cops are signposted by their supervisors who have found the learning invaluable to their own career success…
“I had great news today, that I passed my promotion board. We’ve never met, or spoken but your podcast & digital toolkits helped me, like you wouldn’t believe. I failed my 1st board. The chief inspector on the panel, gave me feedback & asked if I’d ever heard of Rank Success? That was it, I was off. I started to read your blogs, listening to your back catalogue of podcasts & started to prep. As I go into my journey as a Sergeant, I’m going to keep listening, to keep my momentum going.” – Iain
So in this deeper dive, I introduce why I believe the Oscar Kilo wellbeing report is so important, especially in relation to future promotion and leadership selection processes. I highlight where potential interview questions are likely to come from, plus briefing exercises and presentation tasks. I also comment on sections and aspects where I believe the report content can specifically support you around wider thinking, reflections and perspectives.
Listen on your chosen podcast platform, or I’ve also embedded this podcast for you below. Remember, you can choose to become a subscriber today to all Rank Success’s premium episodes to fuel your CPD and support my work interviewing Chief Officers. It’s just a coffee or two a month.
Coincidentally, my own wellbeing and podcast episodes are fuelled by coffee; what you might call a CPD ‘Win-Win’ agreement!
OK: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly…
I’ve alluded above to the good, bad and the ugly aspects in the survey findings, so here’s a snapshot of some of the good, bad and ugly bits. For more detail and insights, listen in to the full podcast and let me know your thoughts.
The Good?
- The report identified strong foundations, including almost 9 out of 10 feeling confident in their knowledge, skills and experience to do their job.
- In relation to team dynamics 4 out of 5 said their team pulls together.
- 81% said they feel trusted in their role, and two-thirds are proud of their work.
Andy Rhodes, Service Director for NPWS said:
“This is a vital moment for policing to listen, understand and act. Wellbeing is not a luxury, it’s essential for individuals, families, and the communities we serve.”
The Bad?
- A disconnect between senior leaders and frontline officers. Low confidence reported by workforce in senior leaders.
- 29% of the workforce reported an intention to leave their force or policing in the next year. Work-life balance, remuneration, and poor leadership cited as the most common reasons.
- Lack of psychological safety.
Chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, described the findings as:
“Deeply worrying, but sadly not unexpected… We are asking too much of those working in policing. The feedback is clear, change must happen.”
The Ugly?
- Assaults on the workforce by the public are high. Nearly half of officers report being assaulted in the past year, worse still – is that officer’s satisfaction with support afterwards is low.
- High levels of physical and emotional exhaustion with burnout due to work. 45% report feeling burnout due to job.
- Bullying and harassment is significantly underreported. Reasons for not reporting include ‘believing no action would be taken’ and ‘fear of impact on career’.
CEO of the College of Policing, Chief Constable Sir Andy Marsh said:
“Every officer and staff member deserves to feel safe, supported, and valued. These results show the cost of policing’s demands and the urgency for compassionate leadership and systemic reform.”
The Future
These survey findings will now be used to inform and shape national initiatives, including:
- The Police Covenant & NPCC Workforce Strategy
- Local wellbeing action plans
- NPWS is already tackling core issues through initiatives like a national mental health crisis line, trauma support tools for high-risk roles, and a ‘ResetU’ app, focused on fatigue and recovery.
At the heart of the matter though, is that clearly forces must do more on issues officers are repeatedly raising as the core causes. For example:
- Focusing additional resources on front line to alleviate workload pressures and managing those workloads better
- Sort the debacle of officers struggling to simply book their annual leave
- Having the courage to stop throwing officers under the bus in response to media or ‘pressure groups’
- Reducing the volume of hare-brained ‘deck chair arrangement’ change and initiatives that don’t clearly and obviously improve things
- Properly rewarding good performance and effectively tackling poor performance/behaviours (procedural justice)
- Teaching leaders at all levels how to practically improve culture.
Did I miss anything?
To protect public safety, the wellbeing of those on the frontline should now be a national priority.
Looking ahead, forces must simply listen to what their own officers and staff are saying needs to change. Then more importantly, act on it. The wellbeing survey helpfully sets things up for that to happen, with over 50 priorities and recommendations highlighted for action.
Unfortunately, the report also captures the view that very few frontline officers believe action will be taken on the report’s findings! So the pressure is on for those senior leaders quoted and others in policing to turn the ship around on the wellbeing front and follow through with tangible, meaningful actions.
Some take a more extreme view to clear decks, as in this recent article by Oliver Laurence, advocating for bolder leadership in policing:
“It is time for many of our chiefs in England and Wales to recognise they cannot continue in office and that they owe it to the public to vacate their posts.”
On the wellbeing challenges, bespoke insights will be available to forces once their local-level results are published by NPWS, alongside any local surveys (e.g. Met Police staff survey results) and the valuable PFEW Pay and Morale survey findings. For now, any force can reasonably assume the general findings apply to them too.
However, I argue one powerful (yet sadly dying) way to help bridge the apparent senior officer disconnect is more direct intelligence gathering and relationship building. That doesn’t mean occasionally cramming in a series of station visits in a day, or doing the day job from a non-HQ office once in a while (albeit that is better than nothing). Properly done, this means regularly spending some time on the front line…
Ductus Exemplo
Leading by example does happen, but does it happen enough? There are few examples, but I did recently notice a certain Chief Constable Andy Prophet out on patrol, in full uniform, including stab vest and he even nicked someone! Here’s the video shared by Hertfordshire Police via tiktok:
This is not only a morale booster for operational staff but a first-hand intelligence gathering opportunity for senior leaders (from Superintendent to Chief Officer) to see the real challenges faced, process barriers and so on. Importantly, it also aids human connection and visibility, and garners true empathy with those being led. In essence, we are emotionally aware and especially the CVF value of empathy.
It’s age old basic stuff too. The following alludes to Roman General Caius Marius (157 – 86 BC):
“The general always set a strong example, closely supervising and sharing in all of the army’s activities on campaign, eating the same ration as the ordinary soldiers and living in the same conditions. It was his custom to inspect personally the sentries guarding the camp, not because he did not trust his subordinate officers to perform this task properly, but so that the soldiers would know that he was not resting whilst they were on duty. He was never slow to speak directly to men of any rank, whether to criticize and punish or to praise and reward. He was respected as a tough, but fair commander.”
How might you translate the above to policing and modern times? In my recent exclusive podcast interview, former Police and Crime Commissioner Festus Akinbusoye sums it up well:
“The best and most respected police leaders I saw were those that… the frontline officers think ‘you know what, if I have to go on a raid, if Sir or Ma’am wants to come with me, I’ll be very happy.’… If your frontline officers don’t have that kind of confidence in you, what’s your point? If I was a Chief Constable, I would want a system whereby anyone going for promotion, I want them to demonstrate: When was the last time you went on a foot patrol with any team? When was the last time you wrote a report? When was the last time you did any of the front line basics that any officer in my force has to deal with?”
There’s nothing quite like the value of first-hand insight, observation or beefed up feedback that hasn’t been filtered through layers of middle managers, various interpretations, and watered down. It may not strictly be on senior officers’ job descriptions to spend time on the front line (if not – why not include it?), but there’s no doubting it helps inform strategic decisions.
In such situations, front line cops and staff will happily tell you what’s going well and what’s not. What’s more, they’ll tell you exactly how to fix it, something you can’t glean in a survey or build the rapport for in a fleeting station visit, or might not make sense by the time it’s written down in a convoluted briefing report.
In any case, it’s an authentic opportunity to listen and people will feel heard. Especially if you are the one making a cuppa at 2am on a nightshift.
Policing runs on crime and community intelligence, so why not use the frontline’s intelligence more around wellbeing? It’s an open goal.
I’ll leave you with the following questions to ponder as an aspiring police leader, especially ahead of any police promotion board:
- What do you think about the wellbeing findings?
- What will your own contribution be to supporting the wellbeing of your team?
- How are you managing yourself and your own resilience?
- What are you doing right now to help?
Kind Regards, Steve
Seeking police promotion? Want a MASSIVE head start right now with the best and best value support going? Hit the ground running with your personal digital promotion toolkit, and/or my market-leading Police Promotion Masterclass and CVF explainers. There’s nothing else like it to effectively prepare you for success in your leadership aspirations. You can also contact me to arrange more personal coaching support. Or try my podcast for your ongoing police leadership CPD covering a range of fascinating subjects.