Career change. Have you managed it?

[Ironfingers]

Hi. Dad here.
Seeking opinions and advice about a career change.

Currently a police officer. Been in the job for nearly 14 years and until last year have always loved it.

I never grew up wanting to be a cop but sort of fell into it. I used to say that I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

I always figured there must be people on 4 to 5 (or more) times my salary that hate their job whereas I actually looked forward to going to work all day.

The police has given me so many varied experiences and skills and, as cliched as it sounds, its like a family. Your team has your back and you theirs.

But with the cuts to emergency services now in full swing (thank you Theresa) the workload is unmanageable, you dont have the time to do a good job and victims are let down. Badly.

Sometimes you end up policing part of a major city with just 8 of you and in my previous force (transfered to a different force in Oct) policing a whole borough with three of you on Friday late shift.

As my kids have got older I have started to realise my own mortality a bit more and to be honest I am not sure if I feel safe on the beat anymore (have always been uniform).
It can be very dangerous and back up can now be a long way away.

Has anyone retrained and moved on from the emergency services?

I would need a job with a comparable salary. I have a science degree and guitar qualifications and have done some one to one music transition.

Am nervous about jacking in a job i have loved and felt so proud of for so long.
The danger aside, you cant be made redundant from the police so you have security.

I still like being a cop but the cuts have ruined it. You would be shocked if you knew how few of us there are left.

What are your thoughts?
Can moving on from the emergency services be fruitful?

Ta.

I don't have specialist knowledge of the emergency services but even so, I'd advise you to think carefully about moving away from them completely. I expect you will have amassed a significant amount in your pension pot for a start.

Can't you explore other roles within the police force/service, e.g. IT, administration, training and education etc? That way you maintain continuity of service as long as possible.

Everyone I know is saying the same thing about workload and not enough staff so in no way are you in the minority. This seems to be happening across private and public sector.

You are in the very fortunate position of having pay rises (albeit capped at 1%?) and a decent pension. That's not the case in the private sector. I know lots of people who haven't had a pay rise in five years and have little to no pension provision from their company.

Is there something else you could do within the force? Could you transfer into training or operations?

What about being a teacher, going into teaching? Or security consultant? I recognise your story from what I read in the papers in the country I live in (different country, not UK, hence choice of user name).

and have little to no pension provision from their company

Every UK employer must by law provide its employees a pension, even if it's only a basic auto- enrolment type.

Well 1% employer contribution is virtually nothing daisychain01.

www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/about-pensions/pensions-basics/automatic-enrolment/how-much-do-i-and-my-employer-have-to-pay

Whereabouts in the country are you, roughly? Where I live there is a particular industry that actively recruits ex police officers because of their transferable skills.

Hi ironfingers....I came on to suggest joining the police,lol.
Have you been retained on the old pension scheme or will you be policing in spaceships under the new scheme? The old pension scheme is better if that's the case and you may be better off trying to find an alternative role within the police.
I changed careers but the other way round. I left teaching after 8 years and joined the police. I have now finished after 20 years and have relocated to a cheaper part of the country.
You could retrain as a teacher/lecturer maybe?
Good luck in whatever you decide.

Bloody hell- don't retrain as a teacher! Everything you've just described in your OP could also relate to teaching in general and my career in teaching which I left last year as I was so sick of it all and knew I wouldn't want to do it until retirement.

Cataline.
What did you do when you left teaching?

OP I've left teaching - albeit I've left a permanent FT post but have had to do a bit of supply to keep us afloat. I've really struggled to find anything even half as well paid - but I haven't got a science degree. You could maybe look for a NHS lab-based job and hope they would train you (but you'd be looking at band 3-4 more than likely). I agree with the poster who suggested a sideways move within the police force.

How about as a 999 dispatcher?

My Step-dad felt the same. He left the force (after years of service) and went and joined the Military Police.
He had similar concerns to yours as to cuts etc within the normal force, and loved his job at the MOD.
He has since retired on a lovely pension!

Ex Job here, I left and retrained for the dark side and became a Police Station Rep for a local law firm, I now work in a different field but earn more than when I was a PO, it's difficult as ex Police skills are limited in civvy world however you could sign up to NCA and Civil Service job alerts. You could also consider work as a University Lecturer for the new policing degrees.

What about working for the NCA? They have been advertising a lot recently

What about working for the NCA? They have been advertising a lot recently

A lot of ex-police go into law but it's a lengthy training process (although you can do most part time) and I suspect it would take you quite a while to get to the equivalent salary.