Kent Police officer sick days down by almost a fifth

18 March 2019

Recent statistics have revealed that the number of Kent Police officers taking sick leave due to long-term illness has fallen by almost a fifth.

According to Kent Police Federation Chair, Chris Carter, a large number of long-term illnesses have been for psychological reasons including mental health, stress and anxiety.

In light of the new figures, Chris said: “Kent Police have continued to invest in their occupational health services in force and I think that has shown the benefits where we are seeing overall sickness trends falling for officers.

“These stats concentrate on long-term sickness, which is obviously a key area because the longer someone is away from the workplace the more difficult it is to bring them back into the workplace and to see it falling is really encouraging.”

According to the BBC, long-term illness numbers have fallen for regular police officers, but those in senior roles such as Sergeants and Inspectors have seen an increase. 

In response, Chris said: “If you consider the roles of Sergeants and Inspectors they are the first-line supervisors and managers within the organisation.

“When we go through a period of particular challenge, for example, recently with cuts and growing demand, and also the changes within forces to try and meet that demand, the pressure often falls on those supervisors and managers.”

After reviewing the statistics, Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott praised the forces’ work in supporting officers and also paid tribute to Kent’s Feel Well Live Well programme, which he claimed has been viewed as a national example of best practice.

He said: “A lot of the emphasis is now about making sure that people are ready to come back to work and how they come back to work rather than this approach where, maybe in the past, there was an expectation they would come back on a certain date when they weren’t ready.

“I think they do much better work with individuals to try and understand the problems and what is best for them, so they’re treating them more like individuals.”