Disciplinary matters with officers from 2020 to 2023

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.038227

I note you seek access to the following information:

New request -
Further to your advice, I am asking for the following below.

1. In the past four years – 1 Jan 2020 to 31 Dec 2020; 1 Jan 2021 to 31 Dec 2021; 1 Jan 2022 to 31 Dec 2022; 1 Jan 2023 to 31 Dec 2023 – how many officers did your force investigate for a disciplinary matter?
2. Please break these down in terms of ethnic group in their respective years. If you believe the numbers are such that the officers could be identified, please break these into white and non-white officers – again in their respective years.
3. In the past four years – 1 Jan 2020 to 31 Dec 2020; 1 Jan 2021 to 31 Dec 2021; 1 Jan 2022 to 31 Dec 2022; 1 Jan 2023 to 31 Dec 2023 – how many officers went on sick leave citing stress and/or mental health issues?
4. Please break these down in terms of ethnic group in their respective years. If you believe the numbers are such that the officers could be identified, please break these into white and non-white officers – again in their respective years.
5. In each year what was the average time for officers’ absence from work as a result of stress and/or mental health issues?
6. Does your force have any internal memos or emails or discussion documents among your senior management team [see link above] which suggest there is a correlation between officers who are being investigated for disciplinary matters and those taking sick leave for stress and/or mental health issues? If so, please supply them. Search terms could include ‘stress’, ‘mental health’, ‘disciplinary issues’ etc.
7. Does your force have any internal memos or emails or discussion documents among your senior management team which suggest or have data which demonstrate that non-white officers are being disproportionately disciplined in your force? If so, please supply them.
8. In the past four years – 1 Jan 2020 to 31 Dec 2020; 1 Jan 2021 to 31 Dec 2021; 1 Jan 2022 to 31 Dec 2022; 1 Jan 2023 to 31 Dec 2023 – has any officer filed a grievance complaining about racism by their colleagues?
9. If so, please provide data on a year-by-year basis and the outcome of the complaints i.e., upheld or dismissed or how ever you frame the decision?
   In Q6 and Q7 - if they still exceed the hours, then please dismiss.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

However, the MPS would like to state that by releasing this information we are not suggesting there is any correlation between sickness and disciplinary matters.

Q1 - In the past four years – 1 Jan 2020 to 31 Dec 2020; 1 Jan 2021 to 31 Dec 2021; 1 Jan 2022 to 31 Dec 2022; 1 Jan 2023 to 31 Dec 2023 – how many officers did your force investigate for a disciplinary matter?
Q2 - Please break these down in terms of ethnic group in their respective years. If you believe the numbers are such that the officers could be identified, please break these into white and non-white officers – again in their respective years.

Please find below an excel spreadsheet 

Q3 - In the past four years – 1 Jan 2020 to 31 Dec 2020; 1 Jan 2021 to 31 Dec 2021; 1 Jan 2022 to 31 Dec 2022; 1 Jan 2023 to 31 Dec 2023 – how many officers went on sick leave citing stress and/or mental health issues?

2020	979 officers
2021	1261 officers
2022	1550 officers
2023	2063 officers

Q4 - Please break these down in terms of ethnic group in their respective years. If you believe the numbers are such that the officers could be identified, please break these into white and non-white officers – again in their respective years.

Year	EMG	Non-EMG	Unknown	Grand Total
2020	190	777	12	979
2021	218	1024	19	1261
2022	314	1210	26	1550
2023	442	1585	36	2063
Grand Total	1164	4596	93	5853

Q5 - In each year what was the average time for officers’ absence from work as a result of stress and/or mental health issues?

Year	Average of Days absent
2020	56.89
2021	55.90
2022	59.85
2023	53.34

Explanation for Answers 3,4 & 5

We’ve only included officers in this data, so no staff, PCSOs, MSC etc.
Leavers should be included for all years.

Sickness absences have been included on two conditions:

• The absence has one of the following seven Absence Reasons:
o Mental Health - Other
o Psychological Disorders - Exhaustion / Fatigue
o Psychological Disorders - Nerves / Depression / Anxiety
o Psychological Disorders - Other
o Psychological Disorders - Stress / Debility
o Psychological Disorders - Trauma
o Psychological Disorders – Unknown

• The absence follows immediately after one of the above absences, has no other Absence Reason, and has one of the following Absence Types:
o Sickness - Half Pay Extension
o Sickness - Full Pay Extension
o Sickness - General

Consecutive absences have been counted as a single absence. For example, both of the below records would count as a single absence of 31 days:

Absence Start Date	Absence End Date	Absence Type	Absence Category	Absence Reason
1 January 2023	15 January 2023	Sickness - General	Sickness	Mental Health - Other
16 January 2023	31 January 2023	Sickness - Full Pay Extension	Sickness

 

Absence Start Date	Absence End Date	Absence Type	Absence Category	Absence Reason
1 January 2023	15 January 2023	Sickness - General	Sickness	Mental Health - Other
16 January 2023	31 January 2023	Sickness - General	Sickness	Mental Health - Other

If a consecutive set of absences started for any other Absence Reason, then changed to one of the seven reasons shown above, then this has been counted starting from the date when the Reason changed. For example, the below absence would count from 16 January 2023, and would be 16 days:

Absence Start Date	Absence End Date	Absence Type	Absence Category	Absence Reason
1 January 2023	15 January 2023	Sickness - General	Sickness	Digestive Disorder - Other
16 January 2023	31 January 2023	Sickness - General	Sickness	Mental Health - Other

Each absence has been counted based on the year that it started in, and each officer has only been counted once per year. So, an officer with two separate absences starting in 2020, and four separate absences in 2021, should only add one to the count for each year.

Q6 - In the past four years – 1 Jan 2020 to 31 Dec 2020; 1 Jan 2021 to 31 Dec 2021; 1 Jan 2022 to 31 Dec 2022; 1 Jan 2023 to 31 Dec 2023 – has any officer filed a grievance complaining about racism by their colleagues?

2020	25 allegations of race discrimination in grievances
2021	32 allegations of race discrimination in grievances
2022	42 allegations of race discrimination in grievances
2023	74 allegations of race discrimination in grievances

Q7 - If so, please provide data on a year-by-year basis and the outcome of the complaints i.e., upheld or dismissed or how ever you frame the decision?

Outcomes for Race Discrimination Allegations in Grievance	2020	2021	2022	2023
Report disclosed	7	14	17	13
Complainant withdrew grievance	2	4	3	9
Closed	-	3	2	3
Informally resolved	3	4	6	6
GMT referred for investigation	4	-	3	1
Aggrieved referred matter of conduct		2	3	1
Not in SOP (policy) remit	8	3	5	14
Currently live	-	-	1	27
Non engagement	1	2	1
Total	25	32	42	74