Bedfordshire Police log over 1,000 mental health absences since 2022

Figures obtained by Accident At Work Claim UK found that Bedfordshire Police logged over 1,000 staff absences due to mental health issues since 2022.

According to Police Federation of England and Wales, more than 14,500 officers were signed off work over the financial year 2023-24 due to stress, depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Inspector Ben Dimmock, who heads up Bedfordshire Police’s health and wellbeing team, said: “The wellbeing of our police officers and staff is crucial. Working in policing can be extremely tough and no one should face it alone.

“The nature of our work means that we may become directly involved in traumatic situations with little or no warning. Each incident will affect different people in different ways. Usually, we can deal with this by talking informally to colleagues, but we do have trauma-focused peer support in place, which is designed to help those who have been exposed to a critical or traumatic incident."

This record number of mental health-related absences has continued a concerning trend as it is nine per cent up on last year’s 13,294 officers and 130 per cent higher than 11 years ago, where just 6,294 officers were signed off for poor mental health.

In 2022, the number of police officers and staff members at Bedfordshire Police who took a day off for mental health reasons stood at 300.

A year later, this number increased to 353, which is the second-highest number of staff absent over the three years.

The past year has seen another rise in staff absences due to mental health issues, standing at 439.

Inspector Dimmock explained that the force also has wellbeing dogs as part of a national police mental health service, Oscar Kilo.

He added: “We have seen how quickly people light up when they see the dogs and the feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Our dedicated wellbeing team are on hand for vital welfare support, trauma interventions, and initiatives to improve mental health and resilience across the organisation. We also have peer supporters, who are trained in mental health first aid and can offer advice on a range of mental health issues, including stress, anxiety, panic attacks and other issues, as well as signposting to support.”

Last year, officers across the country lost 774,000 working days to mental health issues, equal to five days per person and a 55 per cent increase from five years earlier.

Accident At Work Claim UK obtained data on the number of absences logged due to post-trauma symptoms, which has been reported more every year by Bedfordshire Police workers.

Over the past three years,a total of 137 individuals have left Bedfordshire Police, with the overall cost of sickness standing at £12,769,437.95.

Around 39 per cent of those who take a first leave of absence due to mental ill-health go on to take further absences.