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Stress Leave - 332/20

Date Responded 09 April 2020

Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')

As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

You asked:

  1. Can you tell me how many police officers and staff, separately, took stress leave last financial year - 2018/19 & also in 2017/18?
  2. How many police officers were there at those time periods?
  3. How many police staff were there at those time periods?
  4. How many sick days were taken due to stress in 2018/19 & 2017/18 separately ?
  5. How many officers & staff, separately, took stress leave in 2009/2010?
  6. How many police officers were there at that time?
  7. How many police staff were there at that time?
  8. How many sick days were taken due to stress in 2009/2010?
  9. In as much detail as possible, can you tell me what specific tactics / innovative methods the force is using to tackle stress leave? TVP for instance has introduced a stress dog.

For clarification with regards to the definition of "stress leave" - I am happy to leave that to your own interpretation". Please note other forces have included "Mental Stress, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Stress and Work Related Stress" in their responses.

In Response:

Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the People Services Department of Northumbria Police.  I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by Northumbria Police.

I am able to disclose the located information to you as follows.

All establishment data provided as a headcount and the following absence reasons included:

  • Post-Traumatic Stress
  • Stress / Other Stress

1               Officers           Staff

2018/19     131                  85

2017/18     110                  57

2  31/3/2018  -  3225

31/3/2019  -  3129

3  31/3/2018  -  1820

31/3/2019  -  1889

4               Officers           Staff

2018/19     4612                2390

2017/18     3745                1622

5               Officers           Staff

2009/10     78                    75

6  31/3/2010  -  4231

7  31/3/2010  -  2694

8               Officers           Staff

2009/10     2537                2328

9  Northumbria Police has a Wellbeing and People Plan which supports all aspects of working life from the quality and safety of the environment, to how people feel about their work, how inclusive and diverse it is, how it is organised and how their development is supported.  There is a Stress Management Procedure which is available for all staff and officers and offers advice and guidance on identifying, managing and minimising workplace stress.  There are Blue light Champions, dedicated TRiM roles and procedure to deal with traumatic incidents on duty, an employee assistance programme and the support from occupational health who will offer guidance on reasonable adjustments.  A number of officers and staff are mental health first aiders.  We have Paws for Wellbeing Programme, where our wellbeing dog attends workplaces.  We provide regular wellbeing clinics at people’s workplaces to provide support around resilience, health and wellbeing.  We actively listen to the employee voice to identify and solve workplace stressors.

Disclaimer

Due to the different methods of recording information across 43 forces, a specific response from one constabulary should not be seen as an indication of what information could be supplied (within cost) by another. Systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data. For this reason responses between forces may differ, and should not be used for comparative purposes.

The information we have supplied to you is likely to contain intellectual property rights of Northumbria Police. Your use of the information must be strictly in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) or such other applicable legislation. In particular, you must not re-use this information for any commercial purpose.

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