Rise in Police Officers Taking Time Off for Mental Ill Health
21 July 2025
In Surrey Police, 242 officers were signed off work in 2024-25 due to stress, depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.
This is a staggering 26% higher than the previous year, when 192 Surrey Police officers were signed off work for mental health reasons.
Across the UK, over 17,700 police officers were signed off for mental health reasons in the financial year 2024-25, which is 22% up on last year and a huge 182% higher than when Police Oracle first ran the survey 12 years ago.
Gary Stephen, Vice Chair of Surrey Police Federation, said: “The mental load on officers has increased to such a point where officers are really struggling. The amount of traumatic events police officers have to deal with during their careers are not highlighted enough. These build up and cause many officers ongoing issues throughout their careers.
“Add this to the stress of workloads being so high and pressurised, and then not being remunerated well enough, and it is a cocktail for tragedy.
“Accurate recording of trauma and active interventions by forces should now be a matter of course. Supervisors should be afforded the time to intervene informally with their officers to check in with them and signpost them.”
PFEW’s Wellbeing Lead, Paul Williams, said that the national figures were “very worrying”. He said: “Behind each mental health condition, you've got an individual who's going through incredible trauma, which has a significant impact not just on them, but on their family, marriage and career. It can be devastating.”
Paul said it was “a demonstration of the complexities of policing, a demonstration of the budget cuts over the past 15 years, and the lack of increase in pay for police officers. All this has contributed to an extreme rise in mental ill health within the police, and it's only going to keep rising if there's no intervention”.
To try to help officers who are struggling with mental health issues, a new 24-hour Mental Health Crisis Line on 0300 131 2789 has been launched by The National Police Wellbeing Service, Oscar Kilo. It is staffed by expert counsellors to support those working in policing who are experiencing a mental health crisis or suicidal thoughts. It is confidential and completely independent – no information will be shared with the force, Occupational Health departments or line management.
Gary said: “The new Mental Health Crisis Line is a positive step forwards and should be widely publicised within forces.
“Now it is in place, surely forces and the Government should be doing more to support overworked and underpaid police officers to deal effectively with their trauma before it snowballs to this point.”
