Wellbeing lead calls for urgent action to support officers' mental health

18 December 2023

Dyfed Powys Police Federation’s wellbeing lead has called for action now to support members’ mental health with 40 per cent of current police officer sickness in the Force due to non-physical injury.

Dai Gaskins says that the majority of those are officers experiencing a mental health issue, such as stress, anxiety, depression or trauma.

He said: “A priority for me at the moment is the absences of police officers due to mental health issues.

“40 per cent of police officer sickness currently is attributable to non-physical illness or injury, including mental ill-health. 

“I’ve had to make an unusually high number of referrals for police officers to support networks.

“It’s tough trying to support people who are unwell.

“You’re on the phone and people can’t speak to you, they can’t face coming back to work.

“It’s a real issue and something needs to be done.”

 

 

Dai said there was a large number of factors that were feeding into officers’ emotional and psychological distress, ranging from personal finances to misconduct, from burnout to trauma.

“High workloads and low officer numbers is leading to burnout,” he said. “Despite Operation Uplift, there still isn't enough police officers, while many are young in service and we’ve lost a lot of knowledgeable officers who can provide much-needed support through their experience.

“We’re supporting several officers, fairly young in service, who attended the same traumatic incident and they all appear to be suffering from trauma.

“Complaints against officers are becoming more prevalent, which in itself is stressful, and the time it takes in concluding them causes real concern to the officers, and to us as a Federation.

“There’s a lot more scrutiny, we’ve got trial by social media, there’s a lack of respect from the public. It all feeds into it.

“People have often fulfilled a lifetime ambition to be a police officers, but when they join they find the pay isn’t what it should be.

“The cost of living has gone up, interest rates have risen, but wages in real terms have dropped over the past 14 years, and although we’ve had a pay rise it doesn’t come anywhere close to where police officers need to be or deserve to be.

“We’re finding officers leaving because of the pay and conditions, stress, cultural issues in the service.”

The Police Federation of England and Wales’s (PFEW) pay and morale survey last year found that 35% of respondents from Dyfed Powys Police said their job was very or extremely stressful, which was below the national average of 42 per cent.

A total of 72 per cent of respondents from Dyfed Powys Police had experienced feelings of stress, low mood, anxiety, or other difficulties with their wellbeing in the previous 12 months. This compared to 82 per cent nationally.

Dai said members often faced difficulties getting timely support when they needed it. 

“Primary and secondary care to support officers with mental health issues is poor,” he said. “It’s very difficult to get a diagnosis and the right treatment and support.

“Occupational health is at capacity and not always able to provide early intervention that’s required when officers are exposed traumatic incidents.”

Dai said action was needed now.

“The key is early intervention, but some officers aren’t getting their first engagement with occupational health for months after they go off work,” he said.

I’m busier than ever supporting people, putting people in touch with Police Care. 

“I do worry that without the support of some of these charitable organisations, what will happen to some of our colleagues.

“We shouldn’t be relying on charities to provide essential support for police officers.

“We need to look at a change of culture around wellbeing and how we can support all police officers. That means having the right infrastructure in place.

“While we welcome the Police Covenant that’s taking time to come to fruition and we can’t afford to wait for things to happen around us.

“We need to take positive action now.”

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