Policing is facing a \u201cmental health crisis\u201d that needs urgent action, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said, as a new survey finds that nearly half of officers are experiencing regular burnout.<\/p>\n
Oscar Kilo\u2019s National Police Workforce and Wellbeing Survey 2026 found that 45% of respondents were regularly feeling burnt out, and more than half (56%) said they regularly felt physically exhausted.<\/p>\n
Worryingly, one in three police officer and staff respondents reported coming to work when they did not feel well enough to perform their duties. Nearly two thirds (63%) of respondents regularly worked beyond their contracted hours \u2013 rising to 72% among officers.<\/p>\n
The most commonly cited cause for this was not enough people or cover to meet demand, with the load falling heaviest on frontline and operational roles.<\/p>\n
In addition, one in three police officers and staff reported being stressed with their financial situation, and 41% of police officers reported being physically assaulted in the past year.<\/p>\n
Three in 10 police officers and staff said they intended to leave policing within the next year; the most common reasons for this were poor work\/life balance, pay and benefits, and issues with leadership.<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: \u201cThe issue of burnout and poor mental health hasn’t been dealt with, so the true extent of the problem is only starting to come to light now. I keep saying it over and over again \u2013 we’re standing on the precipice of a mental health crisis in policing. I now think that we’re starting to fall into it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is breaking officers in all departments and in all roles and at all levels of experience, and when you add the fact there are not enough cops to deal with footfall, there are not enough cops to deal with planned protests, you are starting to burn people out. I don’t know what the red line is going to be for there to be urgent, critical action.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve said that Oscar Kilo was doing good work and that South Yorkshire Police \u201chas been superb\u201d in its support of officers who have been victims of assaults, but that \u201cthe core issue\u201d was not being tackled. He explained: \u201cWe can talk about wellbeing all we like, but we need to reduce the workload and the stress on officers and the bureaucracy and the performance obsession by organisations such as the HMIC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are breaking policing, and until we deal with that and have the courage to say, \u2018Enough’s enough, we should not police by performance, we should police by what the public wants us to do\u2019, we’re never going to see us taken off the red line. The vast majority of officers I speak to are struggling, and I think we’re going to start to see an exodus of officers increase over the next five years.\u201d<\/p>\n