Reports of verbal abuse against Wokingham Borough Council staff have increased, according to newly-released figures.
It says more than a quarter of health and safety incidents reported by staff since April last year have been incidents of verbal abuse from members of the public.
The council says such reports have increased over the past three years.
Council leader Stephen Conway appealed for the public to ‘treat them with respect.’
Figures reported in the council’s annual health and safety report suggest 76 reports of verbal abuse from the public were reported by council staff in the 2022-23 period. That’s 26% of the 296 health and safety incidents reported in total.
Council documents said reported incidents of verbal abuse ‘have seen an increase over the last three years,’ although they don’t give the previous years’ figures.
Councillor Rachel Bishop-Firth – responsible for council staff – suggested staff dealing with school admissions, housing or who administer fines could be particularly exposed to abuse.
She said: “A lot of our staff work in areas where there are some very difficult and very emotive issues at play.
“A lot of these incidents are verbal abuse. They happen within areas such as school admissions for example, fines, housing provision.”
She noted that one reason for the recorded increase could be that the council had found incidents went ‘underreported’ a number of years ago, and encouraged staff to come forward.
Council leader Stephen Conway said: “It’s clearly deeply regrettable that any council employees are subject to verbal abuse.
“We should try and bear in mind that council employees are here doing their very best to serve the public, and I hope that members of the public who interact with them recognise that and actually treat them with respect, and recognise that they are trying to help.”
