Sick days taken by Police Officers in 2023
Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.041913
I note you seek access to the following information:
- Can you provide the total number of sick days that were taken by all police officers between 01 January 2023 and 31 December 2023 across the police force.
- Can you provide the total number of sick days that were taken by all police officers where mental health was cited as a contributing factor.
- Can you provide a breakdown of the previous questions 1 and 2, and categorise them into groups by age, rank and gender of all the police officers within the police force.
- Can you provide a list of the mental health and psychological conditions e.g. anxiety, stress, depression and PTSD, that were a contributing factor towards all police officer's absences across the police force.
- If applicable, please provide a list of the services that are provided for all police officers concerning mental health within the police force.
Decision
I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.
Please find below information pursuant to your request above.
Please note that the information provided below relates to the specific reasons listed in your request above. The information has been obtained using the Police Single Operating Platform (PSOP) sickness data for 2023, for Police Officers only using the following sickness Absence Types:
- Pregnancy Related-Protected
- Pregnancy Related-Unprotected
- Sickness - Disability Related
- Sickness - Full Pay Extension
- Sickness - General
- Sickness - Half Pay Extension
- Sickness - Injury on Duty
- Sickness - Pregnancy Related
- Sickness – Unknown
With the following Absence Reasons being used for mental health and psychological conditions:
• Mental Health - Other
• Psychological Disorders - Exhaustion / Fatigue
• Psychological Disorders - Nerves / Depression / Anxiety
• Psychological Disorders - Other
• Psychological Disorders - Stress / Debility
• Psychological Disorders - Trauma
• Psychological Disorders – Unknown
Q1 - Can you provide the total number of sick days that were taken by all police officers between 01 January 2023 and 31 December 2023 across the police force.
The total number of sick days take by all police officers between 01/01/2023 and 31/12/2023 across the police force was 440330 days.
Q2 - Can you provide the total number of sick days that were taken by all police officers where mental health was cited as a contributing factor.
The total number of sick days take by all police officers between 01 January 2023 and 31 December 2023 across the police force where mental health was cited as a contributing factor was 127952 days.
Q3 - Can you provide a breakdown of the previous questions 1 and 2, and categorise them into groups by age, rank and gender of all the police officers within the police force.
Please see below question 1 and 2 as above broken-down ad categorised by age, rank, and gender of all place officers within the police force. Please note Where the questions are concerning age, the officers age at the start of the absence has been used, and then categorised into intervals of five years.
1. For the total number of sick days that were taken by all police officers between 01/01/2023 and 31/12/2023 across the police force.
• Broken down by age.
| Age Band | Total |
|---|---|
| 18-22 | 10604 |
| 23-27 | 56409 |
| 28-32 | 71705 |
| 33-37 | 66479 |
| 38-42 | 66083 |
| 43-47 | 70743 |
| 48-52 | 58352 |
| 53-57 | 29434 |
| 58-62 | 8997 |
| 63-67 | 1023 |
| 68-72 | 501 |
• Broken down by Rank.
| Rank | Total |
|---|---|
| Assistant Commissioner | 4 |
| Chief Inspector | 1374 |
| Chief Superintendent | 288 |
| Commander | 4 |
| Constable | 321880 |
| Detective Chief Inspector | 1107 |
| Detective Chief Superintendent | 4 |
| Detective Constable | 57591 |
| Detective Inspector | 3951 |
| Detective Sergeant | 14053 |
| Detective Superintendent | 691 |
| Inspector | 5697 |
| Sergeant | 33080 |
| Superintendent | 606 |
• Broken down by gender.
| Gender | Total |
|---|---|
| Female | 160238 |
| Male | 280092 |
1 - For the total number of sick days that were taken by all police officers where mental health was cited as a contributing factor.
• Broken down by age.
| Age Band | Total |
|---|---|
| 18-22 | 2567 |
| 23-27 | 16429 |
| 28-32 | 20585 |
| 33-37 | 21133 |
| 38-42 | 19997 |
| 43-47 | 20840 |
| 48-52 | 15867 |
| 53-57 | 7503 |
| 58-62 | 2260 |
| 63-67 | 654 |
| 68-72 | 117 |
• Broken down by Rank.
| Rank | Total |
|---|---|
| Chief Inspector | 680 |
| Chief Superintendent | 183 |
| Constable | 89335 |
| Detective Chief Inspector | 333 |
| Detective Constable | 20093 |
| Detective Inspector | 1068 |
| Detective Sergeant | 3901 |
| Detective Superintendent | 321 |
| Inspector | 1370 |
| Sergeant | 10576 |
| Superintendent | 92 |
• Broken down by gender.
| Gender | Total |
| Female | 48971 |
| Male | 78981 |
Q4 - Can you provide a list of the mental health and psychological conditions e.g. anxiety, stress, depression and PTSD, that were a contributing factor towards all police officer's absences across the police force.
Please find below a list of mental heath and psychological conditions that were a contributing factor towards all police officer’s absences across the police force. (NB This list is as mentioned above the conditions used to provide the requested information for (question 2 and question 3.2.)
- Mental Health - Other
- Psychological Disorders - Exhaustion / Fatigue
- Psychological Disorders - Nerves / Depression / Anxiety
- Psychological Disorders - Other
- Psychological Disorders - Stress / Debility
- Psychological Disorders - Trauma
- Psychological Disorders - Unknown
Q5 - If applicable, please provide a list of the services that are provided for all police officers concerning mental health within the police force.
Please see below a list of mental health support services available to police officers:
- Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
- Counselling (including EMDR and trauma informed counselling
- Trauma Peer Support (TPS)
- Welfare support Officers
- Psychological monitoring programme
- Bereavement and support groups
- Substance misuse service
- Pre and Post deployment support
- Wellbeing enhanced service – This includes support for physical via health coaches
- Occupational Health Management referrals
- Occupational Health Managers Advice line
- Support with Mental Health risk assessments (including suicide risk)
- High touch service