On holiday? Officers shouldn’t be using leave to work

FOUR in ten police officers have admitted to using their annual leave to catch up on outstanding work.

And a third of bobbies say fatigue has made it difficult to carry out their duties, the Police Federation of England and Wales’ welfare, demand and capacity survey found. “This is happening too much,” said Zuleika Payne, South Yorkshire Federation Chair. “We have 81% of South Yorkshire officers saying that their workload is too high.”

“Sickness levels are on the rise, the number of police officers experiencing stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD is too high. We need more boots on the ground if we are to counter this problem.

“Falling officer numbers impacts upon officer safety. And officers are carrying far too heavy a caseload. People are leaving because of the nature and the pressure of the work – and this comes down every time to low officer numbers.”

She urged members to seek help if their mental health is suffering, either from line managers, occupational health, or their GP, and said colleagues should watch out for signs of stress among those they work with. The force can also offer help under the guise of the Well Together project and the MIND Blue Light campaign.

Around a third of sickness absences can be blamed on stress, Ms Payne added. A recent snapshot study carried out by the force found that on one particular day, 137 police officers were off sick with 43 absences being due to stress-related illness.

She said: “These officers were suffering from stress, anxiety and burnout. And that just shows the broken state of the organisation.”

• The Police Federation of England and Wales’ welfare survey also found that one third of officers said fatigue had made it difficult to carry out certain duties and responsibilities at work, and more than half said fatigue had interfered with family or social life.