THAMES Valley Police logged more than 2,500 staff absences as a result of mental health issues in the last three years, new figures show.
Figures obtained by Accident At Work Claim UK show that 2,723 staff absences were registered as being related to mental health issues.
POLFED figures also showed that more than 14,500 officers were signed off work over the financial year 2023-24 due to stress, depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
This record number of mental health-related absences has continued a concerning trend as it is 9 per cent up on last year’s 13,294 officers and 130 per cent higher than 11 years ago, where just 6,294 officers were signed off for poor mental health.
In 2022, the number of police officers and staff members at Thames Valley Police who took a day off for mental health reasons stood at 724.
This jumped to 907 in 2023, and again to 1,092 last year.
Last year, officers across the country lost 774,000 working days to mental health issues, equal to five days per person and a 55% increase from five years earlier.
Many UK police forces log the specific mental health issues when an absence is taken, with the most common problems that police officers and staff face being anxiety, depression and stress.
Police officers and staff often face emotionally challenging situations as well as traumatic experiences, with a number of studies demonstrating that policing is a stressful occupation.
Due to the stresses and mental difficulties of the job, many officers and staff members are choosing to retire early or leave the force to pursue a different career.
The 45 territorial UK police forces have individual control over their spending on health and wellbeing services for officers. There is a minimum — they must offer six counselling sessions through the NHS — but that’s the only service they are required to provide.
Around 39% of those who take a first leave of absence due to mental ill-health go on to take further absences.
POLFED wellbeing worker Hayley Aley explained: “Some stigma is being eradicated. Historically, police officers haven’t wanted to declare they are struggling with their mental health for fear it will affect their progression and will have a negative effect on their working life.
“Some initiatives that are available in forces positively assist officers, but unfortunately, it’s not consistent across all forces, and there’s still a reliance on officers paying for their own support.”
Co-lead for wellbeing at the Police Federation of England & Wales (POLFED), Paul Williams, said: “With assaults on officers rising, pay being frozen, and job pressures being worse than ever, many police workers have been left mentally broken.
“When cops come into work now, they are under horrendous amounts of pressure by the job and the public, dealing with traumatic experiences every day, leading to an increase in ill-health retirements.
“Different forces do different things around the wellbeing of cops. Some are great at offering welfare provisions, while some have no desire to introduce these facilities, meaning it’s a postcode lottery on whether workers get the right care.
“POLFED feels that there should be a set of common minimum standards for wellbeing that all forces have to adopt. If you don’t look after the wellbeing of the officers, then you won’t have a police force to represent and protect the public effectively.”
More details, including about the kind of support and claims on offer by Accident At Work Claim UK to those who may be suffering from mental health problems at work, is available via: accidentatworkclaimuk.org.uk
