Gwent officers urged to give their views on wellbeing support

18 May 2023

Oscar Kilo, the national police wellbeing service, is asking Gwent officers to share their views on the support offered by forces, so improvements can be made.

The annual survey, now in its fourth year, is run by the Policing Research Unit at Durham University with support from the College of Policing.

It launched on 15 May for seven weeks and gives everyone working in policing an opportunity to have their say on the current state of wellbeing provision and support offered by their forces, so police leaders can assess where to do better.

Gwent Police Federation chair Matthew Candy said: “Oscar Kilo does an incredibly important job in looking after the wellbeing of our members, which is so important in a stressful, sometimes thankless role, such as policing.

“We never know when we might need its help and that’s why I would encourage all members to put aside a few minutes to give their feedback.”

The National Police Wellbeing survey of last year saw the highest survey response yet with 36,633 officers, staff and volunteers taking part – a 60 per cent increase on the number of respondents previously.

They showed a reduction in depression symptoms among police officers and staff, with these being at a similar level between the two groups. However, fatigue levels for police officers had increased in the past 12 months with 29.6 per cent of police officers and 21.9 per cent of police staff indicating very high levels of fatigue.

Average scores for job satisfaction have declined for police officers, and intention to quit was found to have significantly increased for both officers and staff.

Andy Rhodes, service director for the National Police Wellbeing Service, explained: “We carry out this survey because it is critical that our work is focused on what those working in policing every day are telling us they need.

“We have had fantastic response rates to previous surveys, and we want to build on that again this year. Each year, we respond directly to the findings from the survey, creating practical support at both organisational and individual level.”

The survey can be accessed by the Force intranet.