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In just over a year there were 36 vacancies within the communications department

Thames Valley Police has admitted that 2024 will be “challenging” as it cannot retain enough call handlers.

There are currently 44 vacancies across the force’s contact management centres (CMCs) at Milton Keynes and Kidlington, which handle 999 and 101 calls, as well as online communication.

Between August and October 2023, some 36 people left the department and staff retention “continues to present a risk”.

Vacancies will present a challenge for the police this year

TVP made the admission in a new report on call handling, in which it said that recruitment of call handlers “remains good” despite retention issues.

Addressing its vacancies, a force spokesperson said: “Based on current projections a return to full establishment will not be achieved until early 2025 at the earliest.

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“As a result, managing non-emergency call demand into and across summer 2024 is likely to continue to be challenging.”

The force said it held weekly meetings looking at how it can improve staff retention and recruitment.

The news comes as it emerged that the number of 999 calls to TVP were up 15 per cent last year on 2022, with the force achieving an average speed to answer of seven seconds.

The report stated that just over 84 per cent of TVP 999 calls were answered in under 10 seconds last year.

This puts TVP 15th out of the 43 forces in England and Wales in terms of the percentage of 999 calls answered in under 10 seconds – the national standard.

Thames Valley Police faces 'challenging' year due to dozens of communications vacancies