Mental health figures ‘ringing alarm bells’ says branch secretary

29 July 2026

Derbyshire Police Federation secretary Chris Parker says a 43 per cent rise in the number of officers off work due to their mental health should ‘ring alarm bells for everyone’.

A total of 308 Derbyshire officers were signed off from work due to stress, depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during 2025/26.

That’s an increase of 93 officers compared with 215 the previous year.

Nationally, a record 19,443 officers were signed off with stress, depression, anxiety, or PTSD in 2025/26, a rise of 9.5 per cent on the previous year.

Branch secretary Chris Parker

Chris said: “These figures should ring alarm bells for everyone.

“Every day our members face traumatic incidents and relentless demand. They are expected to absorb the pressures of modern policing and to do so much with so little, which is taking its toll.

“It is no surprise that more officers are being signed off with depression, anxiety, stress and PTSD.

“Police officers are incredibly resilient, but resilience is not an unlimited resource. We cannot keep expecting officers to shoulder ever-increasing pressure without consequences.

Pay award

“It’s not just the job but relationships, life events, or a combination of factors, can all have an impact.

“Many officers will have money worries after having their salary cut in real terms over the past decade, something which the latest pay award is unlikely to improve.

“Until the Government starts matching their expectations of policing with the investment needed to support those delivering it, these numbers will continue to move in the wrong direction.

"We need sustained investment in officer wellbeing and meaningful mental health support, and we need enough officers to meet the ever increasing demand.”

The figures were obtained by Police Oracle in a Freedom of Information request, which said it was the fifth year in a row the number has gone up.

Stressful

Andy Rhodes, director of the National Police Wellbeing Service, told Police Oracle: “What we see from our data is that there is a large amount of internally driven stress that is controllable and avoidable. We need to look at workloads and work design.

“People don’t mind being busy if it’s purposeful work that they think has value, but there’s a lot of bureaucracy involved in policing, and that can be very stressful to deal with.”

He added: “You look at the number of officers who are now deployed in public order and mutual aid; the issues the police are dealing with are putting a massive strain on them.

“Rest days are there for a reason. You can’t look at a 45% burnout rate and just say, ‘Well that’s policing’. We’ve got to call it out.”

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