Mental Health
Mental health crises are soaring, with policing now the profession with the highest mental health-related sickness rates.
Resilience in the service is at an all-time low and officers are being put under inordinate amounts of pressure which is taking its toll on their health and wellbeing.
The unprecedented cuts to the police service have meant that officers are under more strain now than ever before as officers are being asked to do more and more with fewer resources and while they have risen admirably to the challenge it is inevitable that the increased pressures they’re facing will have an impact on them mentally.
Nine-point Stress Plan
A nine-point stress plan template was launched in September 2017 by the Federation to help forces better prioritise on officer wellbeing. This was presented to health and safety representatives from the 43 forces in England and Wales, as well as representatives from the Scottish Police Federation, the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, and three of our non-home forces – the British Transport Police, Civic Nuclear Constabulary and Ministry of Defence Police.
View the nine-point stress plan template.
Raising issues: Mandatory policy is the key to unlock tangible improvements for our dedicated police officers on the ground
More needs to be done to tackle mental health issues across the board and the Federation is raising these issues regularly.
As part of our ‘Copped Enough’ campaign, we are not only pressing for fair pay but also for stronger mental health support to be made available across all forces.
It is the responsibility of all chief constables to ensure welfare provisions are met. Right now, however, wellbeing support is a postcode lottery.
PFEW is pressing for minimum standards to be made mandatory across all 43 forces, including improved training for line managers and compulsory psychological risk assessments for frontline roles.
Statistics - Pay and Morale Survey 2024
Four in five officers experienced feelings of stress, low mood, anxiety, or other difficulties with their mental health or wellbeing in 2024. Almost all of these officers (93 per cent) stated work has worsened these mental health issues.
Members were asked what reasons they had for planning to leave the police service, and the mental health and wellbeing ramifications of the role had a major effect for 75 per cent, the second largest reason, with morale sitting at the top.
Officers who felt mental health problems were worsened by work were asked what aspects of the job had affected them. A high workload (60 per cent) and a poor work/life balance (51 per cent) were the most pressing challenges.
Almost two thirds of officers (63 per cent) described their workload as ‘too high’.
A third of respondents are not able to take all their annual leave, and 66 per cent have had rest days cancelled.
One officer told us: “Being constantly fatigued from work, having to miss out on rest day social time because I had to sleep after work, but I can't meet them before a shift because I'll be too tired for work, but I also can't meet them after unless I've slept properly as I'm too tired. So, I am missing out on lots of opportunities to see friends and families on my rest days.”
