Record numbers of police officers in England and Wales are quitting their jobs or being sacked, figures show.

In the year to March, 5,151 officers left after a voluntary resignation.

This is the highest number since comparable records began 17 years ago, when 2,207 were recorded in 2006/07, and 10% higher than the 4,668 in 2022/23, according to PA news agency analysis of Home Office data.

In the latest 12-month period, 365 officers were also dismissed or had their contract terminated: also the highest annual number on record since 162 were sacked in 2006/07 and up 63% year-on-year from 224.

The departures, revealed in figures published on Wednesday, come after the previous government hailed the success of its recruitment campaign to hire tens of thousands of new officers by March 2023.

Britain’s biggest police force, the Metropolitan Police, was the only one to miss its individual target, after falling short by about 1,000.

Last week Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said he was worried that his force was a “shrinking organisation”.

Speaking as he launched a recruitment campaign to try to boost falling officer numbers, Sir Mark told LBC “recruiting and budgets” were both part of the issue.

A block graph showing police officers who have left after a voluntary resignation since 2006
(PA Graphics)

As of March, there were 147,746 full-time equivalent (FTE) officers in post, which the Home Office said is the highest number since comparable records began in the year to March 2003 and up 0.2% on the previous peak a year ago when there were 147,434.

But the figures also indicate how the number of officers has reduced in some ranks and positions, including close to 1,000 fewer constables than a year ago (down 947 from 115,923 to 114,976) and a 267 drop in the number of PCSOs (from 7,806 to 7,539).

In the year to March, 3,964 officers who left police forces in England and Wales had less than five years’ service, accounting for 43% of leavers in the period – higher than the proportion of officers in post at the start of the year with the equivalent length of service.

Of this, 16% (1,495) had served in the police for less than a year – the equivalent of nearly one in six of all officers who left in the 12 months to March.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “It is vitally important that we restore the relationship between police and communities.

“To do that, we have committed to supporting thousands of extra police, PCSOs and special constables in communities across England and Wales.

“Through our neighbourhood policing guarantee, we will start to rebuild that trust and confidence the public should have in the police to keep them safe.”