Cost of employee assistance program (EAP) from July 2019 to June 2022

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.025516

I note you seek access to the following information:

Cost of employee assistance program (EAP) each year.

Number of referrals to EAP each year.

Compare date from the last 3 years.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 43(2) – Commercial Interest

Reason for decision

Section 43(2) – Commercial Interest - The information you requested at your question 1, the cost of the MPS “…employee assistance program (EAP) each year’, is commercially sensitive and Section 43 of the Act, which provides an exemption to refuse disclosure of information prejudicial to commercial Interests, has therefore been applied to refuse disclosure.

I have considered the potential harm that could be caused by disclosure. In this case disclosing any costs in relation to the employee assistance program (EAP) could result in the MPS attracting less favourable deals from companies in the future if they believed such details would be made public. Furthermore disclosure may impact on the commercial interests of the supplier, as if the costs are favourable the supplier may be expected to provide the program at similar costs to other companies, and if unfavourable other companies could by-pass our current supplier.

Disclosure of the requested information would prejudice the commercial interests of the MPS because the disclosure of costs, would set a 'benchmark' which potential service providers could use to compare their proposed responses to. This would therefore have a negative impact on the competitive nature of the tendering process. There is a public interest in ensuring that companies are able to compete fairly. Disclosing the information could also provide competitors with an unfair advantage. Full disclosure would weaken the position of the MPS in a competitive environment by revealing market-sensitive information. This would have a harmful effect on future partnerships when entering into commercial activities.

I consider that the benefit that would result from the information being disclosed does not outweigh the considerations favouring non-disclosure.

Disclosure

You have asked for the number of referrals to EAP each year, broken down by the last three years for comparison.

Please note this information can only be identified through the volume of calls made to the 24/7 EAP helpline. Please find this information below:

Volume of calls in to 24/7 EAP helpline last three years
July 2019 to June 2020	3070
July 2020 to June 2021	2878
July 2021 to June 2022	3435
Total	9383

 The data above shows the actual yearly uptake (utilisation) of the EAP service. These are then referred on for further intervention, for example, counselling, legal advice, CBT etc