Police Staff Absences on the Rise Due to Officers Being Left ‘Mentally Broken’

Published on: 29 Mar, 2025
Updated on: 31 Mar, 2025

By Esme Campbell

More than 1,300 staff absences have been logged by Surrey Police as a result of mental health issues in the last three years.

The past year saw 538 mental health-related staff absences within Surrey Police, up from 439 in 2023 and 340 in 2022, according to data obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

The most common mental wellbeing problems logged are stress, anxiety and depression, which were reported at 50.9 per cent, 30.3 per cent and 14.3 per cent, respectively, in 2024.

Accident At Work Claim UK , who carried out the research, said Surrey Police have seen a total of 283 individuals leave the force in the past three years, with the overall cost of sickness standing at £62,701,718.

The research shows that nationally there was a record number of days off for police staff in the 2023-24 financial year, at 14,500, as reported by the Police Federation of England & Wales (POLFED). This was a 130 per cent increase from when the survey, by Police Oracle, was first conducted for the 2012-13 financial year.

Paul Williams, co-lead for wellbeing at POLFED, said: “With assaults on officers rising, pay being frozen, and job pressures being worse than ever, many police workers have been left mentally broken.”

Officers across the country have lost a collective 774,000 working days to mental health problems.

The 45 territorial UK police forces have individual control over their expenditure on health and wellbeing services for officers. There is a minimum requirement to offer six counselling sessions through the NHS, but that is the only service mandatory to provide.

POLFED wellbeing worker Haley Aley said: “Some initiatives that are available in forces positively assist officers, but unfortunately, it’s not consistent across all forces, and there’s still a reliance on officers paying for their own support.”

However, she said the fact that officers were feeling more confident in reporting mental health issues was positive.

Surrey Police told the Guildford Dragon they have a comprehensive range of 24/7 support available for mental wellbeing, including talking therapies, clinical support from the in-house health service and access to medical professionals, among others.

Responses to Police Staff Absences on the Rise Due to Officers Being Left ‘Mentally Broken’

Jim Allen Reply

March 29, 2025 at 11:18 am

In the 1960s the police were often ex military, confident of their abilities standing tall, policing by consent.

Last week in Guildford two officers who appeared to be under 5ft, and of slight stature, were on patrol, presumambly fulfilling a quota. I could have picked up one under each arm. They would have no choice but to run if they were challenged by 90 per cent of the population.

Perhaps if we recruited our police with policing in mind and not diversity respect would be higher and assaults and crime rates lower.
- Tom Saunders Reply
  
  April 1, 2025 at 11:36 am
  
  Can this really be pinned on diversity though? Maybe partially, but not in totality.
  
  As Mr Allen says himself, police officers often used to be ex-military, but we can’t even staff the current military properly!
  
  No one is forced to join the military or police (hence flirtation with the subject of conscription), so in the absence of an abundance of the willing, the police need to take on whoever they can, regardless of stature etc.
  
  Great respect for anyone willing to put themselves out there to protect the rest of us. I hope current officers can be given the support they need and that recruitment incentives can be offered to maintain a high calibre of officers.