Nearly 19,000 officer working days lost to sickness in Norfolk Constabulary

9 December 2025

Nearly 19,000 officer working days were lost to sickness in Norfolk Constabulary last year, which the Chair of Norfolk Police Federation has said is sadly unsurprising, considering the huge demands being placed on officers.

Andy Symonds was commenting on Home Office figures collected by The Telegraph, which show that, nationally, 1.63 million police working days were lost to illness or injury in the year to March, the highest level since records began.

Andy said: “That 18,918 police days were lost in Norfolk in the past financial year is no surprise to those who work within policing, but will be a shock to the public. I will explain why it’s not a shock to us within policing. Officers face such a huge demand that they need to work at pace for their entire shift. There is no let up, no chance to catch a break, to decompress from the last job before dealing with the next stressful, mentally and physically demanding job.

“Norfolk officers have also suffered an exceptionally demanding summer, having to police protest after protest. Officers’ shifts were constantly changed, and their rest days were cancelled or moved, mostly to weekends. Those precious weekends when officers should be at home spending time with their families during the summer, enjoying themselves, decompressing and building that resilience battery, so they can cope with the ever-demanding job of a cop.

“Officers are running at 9,000 revs as soon as they walk through the police station door to the moment they leave, which is never on time, always late. They then get to the point where they fail either mentally or physically, and are in desperate need of rest and repair.”

Andy called on the Government to invest more in policing both locally and nationally, so that there were enough police officers and staff to deal with the massive demand.

He added that officers dealt with hundreds of traumatic incidents over their careers. He said: “Much more investment is needed in workplace health and wellbeing, to deal with this trauma in a timely and efficient way. An investment in the people who deliver policing on a daily basis will reduce figures like the 19,000 days lost to sickness in Norfolk.”

A spokesman from the Police Federation of England and Wales commented on the national figures, saying: “Policing in 2025 is a service that is breaking the people whose bravery and dedication protect communities across the country every day.

“What is shocking is the record number of police officers – nearly 9,000 a year – who are resigning from policing before the job breaks them. More than 18 officers die by suicide every year.

“Policing needs to fix its leadership and create healthy workplaces where officers can thrive. Bad pay, worse morale and the challenge of working in conditions where every shift ends late and rest days are cancelled regularly are contributory factors to sickness absence.”