Government investing £2.4 million in police wellbeing

14 July 2026

Officers are going to be given access to a new sleep, fatigue and recovery App as part of a £2.4 million Government investment in extra police support services.

The funding will allow the ResetU initiative to be made available to all forces and will also ensure the confidential and urgent support offered through the Mental Health Crisis Line can continue.

As part of the wellbeing measures in the Government’s Police Reform White Paper, the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS) will lead the delivery of the support services to ensure consistency nationwide.

Confidential

Andy Rhodes, chief executive at the NPWS, explained: “Policing asks a huge amount of the people who serve the public. Officers and staff work in high-pressure environments, are repeatedly exposed to trauma, risk and fatigue, and often carry the impact long after an incident has ended. They deserve support that is practical, confidential and available before problems reach crisis point.

“This police reform funding is a significant step in strengthening that support across England and Wales. Through the National Police Wellbeing Service, it will help expand access to psychological health checks, trauma tracking, ResetU and the Mental Health Crisis Line, giving officers and staff more ways to understand their wellbeing, manage the demands of the job and get the right help earlier.

“Our focus is prevention and early intervention. By identifying need sooner and helping people access the right support at the right time, we can reduce the risk of issues escalating into crisis, while also easing pressure on forces, occupational health teams and other support services.

“The implementation of these measures will be phased and developed with policing. This will ensure that they are practical for forces to roll out and deliver the best possible support to the officers and staff who will use them.”

Jess Davies, chair of West Midlands Police Federation, has welcomed the investment in police wellbeing, but said it needs to be sustained if officers and staff are to be properly supported throughout their careers.

Breaking point

“The very nature of policing means that officers and staff are dealing with traumatic incidents on a daily basis and, with the increased demands placed on them in recent years, this repeat exposure can build up and take them to breaking point,” Jess explains.

“Mental health crises among police officers are soaring, with policing now the profession with the highest mental health-related sickness rates. As part of our Copped Enough campaign, the Federation has been calling for better protection and mental health support, so officers aren't forced to suffer in silence.

“All too often the police service has almost had to wait until someone is broken before measures are put in place to try to fix them, but this can be too late, with devastating effects for the individuals involved, their families, their colleagues and forces.

“The availability of the mental health crisis line and the ResetU App could make a difference to officers and staff. For them just to know they can access confidential support if they are struggling could be life-saving.

“However, this cannot just be a short-term fix, the Government needs to commit to long-term investment in policing as a whole but specifically the wellbeing of those who put their lives on the line to serve their communities.”

The funding will mean 150,000 clinical psychological risk assessments and ‘lighter touch’ mental health checks will be available each year for officers and staff in operational roles, signposting them quickly to the best support when they need it most.

Guidance

New guidance will help forces to roll out trauma tracking systems to record officer and staff exposure to traumatic incidents. This will help senior leaders to identify and support those at the highest risk at an early stage, so they are not left to manage the effects of repeated trauma alone.

“These tracking systems are critical,” says Jess, “Forces have to be able to be more proactive in terms of identifying where officers and staff may need support, early intervention is crucial.”

Crime and policing minister Sarah Jones says the Government will ensure officer and staff wellbeing is ‘prioritised, protected and never treated as an afterthought’.