Home Secretary promises mental health resources to ‘free up’ police time

24 February 2023

West Mercia Police Federation has welcomed the news that dedicated mental health resources will be put in place to allow police to focus on catching criminals.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman wrote to the Chief Constable and Police and Crime Commissioner yesterday to set out how £150 million of investment will be used to improve the mental health crisis care response.

The funding will include £7 million for specialised mental health ambulances, and money to provide new or improved mental health crisis response infrastructure, including safe spaces.

Ms Braverman explained: “Mental health demand pressures on many forces are taking officer time away from fighting crime. People in mental health crisis need to be seen by healthcare professionals to get the appropriate assessment or treatment in the right environment.

“The Prime Minister recently set out that one of his crime priorities is to reduce burdens on the police from non-police activity. We want to see more police officers on the beat, investigating and preventing crime.”

Pete Nightingale, interim chair of West Mercia Police Federation, responded: “This is very welcome news which could potentially have a major impact on my colleagues.

“West Mercia Police are already working hard to adopt the principle of using the most appropriate agency.

“We’ve seen, as public services have diminished through cutbacks in the last decade, increasing burdens being placed on police officers, notably the requirement to try to help people in mental health crisis.

“These days if there is no mental health professional, ambulance or social services available, it will be the police that comes to the rescue. And because colleagues take our duty of care seriously, we will stay with that person until they can be passed on to an appropriate authority. This time spent not catching criminals or focusing on the core job we are employed to do.”

The College of Policing and National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) are working on a smarter working practice that is based on Humberside’s application of the Right Care, Right Person model, which they are on track to deliver by the end of March.

They are also working on a toolkit to assist forces.

The Home Secretary’s letter promised “swift access” for police to refer individuals into professional mental health care. She added that a multi-agency agreement would be drawn up between policing and healthcare organisations, and the impact of the changes would be measured.

Pete said the Federation will continue to keep a close watch on the situation to ensure the burden on colleagues eases.