Startling rise in mental ill health among police officers

5 September 2024

More than 14,500 UK police officers were signed off work over the past year due to stress, depression, anxiety or PTSD it can be revealed.

Nationally, this figure is 9% up on last year - and a staggering 130% higher than when the survey was first run 11 years ago.

In Humberside, 260 police officers were signed off work due to stress, depression, anxiety or PTSD in the financial year 2023-2024.

Lee Sims, Chair of Humberside Police Federation, said: "Mental health issues for serving Police Officers are a real concern for Humberside Police Federation

"The figures have not come as a shock to the Federation, before the figures were released, we noticed that more officers were coming to us with mental health issues, and this was for a number of different reasons.

"Resilience is very low and the demands on Officers in certain departments is overwhelming and at times cannot be sustained, the recent pay and morale survey showed that 53% of respondents said that they find their job ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ stressful and more concerning 68% said that their workload has been ‘too high’ or ‘much too high’ 

"Officers witness and deal with horrific incidents on a daily basis, and the demand on them is always increasing, they will constantly rise to the challenges they face, however like anyone else they can only take so much, and everyone has their breaking point.

"Dealing with mental health is everyone’s responsibility and we at Humberside Federation make sure we work closely with the Force, staff associations and our partner agencies to try and help everyone we can.

"There are several departments which are subject to high emotional and psychological trauma. We suggested the Force to take precautionary steps to ensure that prior to staff being moved to these departments, they conduct a screening process to establish if the Officer is suitable from a mental health wellbeing perspective to look at the best interests of each officer in the longer term.

"We have allocated one of our holidays homes as a welfare provision which is predominantly used for both Officers and staff who need a break, these Officers and staff can be nominated by a colleague or by the welfare and benevolent fund who we work closely with.

"We have also trained majority of our work placed reps and supervisors in mental health first aid, which I feel is invaluable as the course teaches you to recognise the early signs of mental health.

"We also signpost Officers to a number of different support networks both internally and externally.

"I think that the most important thing to remember that behind every uniform and warrant card there is a person who can suffer like anyone else.

"I just want to remind everyone that the Federation are here to help and our door is always open."

The National Police Chiefs’ Council’s (NPCC) Wellbeing Lead, Andy Rhodes, said: “Policing is an extremely fulfilling profession where officers can make a genuine difference to people’s lives and to their communities. Sadly the role they play means they can often be faced with some incredibly challenging and hostile situations and, over time, this can take a toll.

“For example, the recent unprecedented violent disorder saw more than 300 officers physically injured across the country and many more will also be impacted psychologically, although sometimes it may not surface for many years after the incident.

“Stressful, fast-paced situations and repeat exposure to trauma can affect officers and many police staff in a number of ways, which is why we are committed to supporting the psychological wellbeing of our people, working closely with leading experts and with the dedicated Occupational Health teams in forces.”

Mr Rhodes said that each force was committed to early-intervention debriefs when officers were exposed to trauma, alongside mental health peer support and psychological risk assessments. He added that the chief medical officer for policing had developed a national suicide action plan.

He said: “Policing is a rewarding career as long as the right support is made available to those who need it, when they need it.”