Taxpayer picks up bill for hundreds of police officers signed off with tension

The highest sick charge was in Derbyshire, which reported thirty officers have been signed off with anxiety, amounting to one.64 per cent of their total amount.

It was followed by a massive metropolitan force, West Midlands, with 1.58 per cent.

And the third highest proportion was in rural Bedfordshire – the fourth smallest force in the nation – which reported one.56 per cent, or 17 of its 1,092 officers.

In comparison, the Metropolitan Police – by far the greatest force in England and Wales – reported 101 officers had been off with tension, amounting to just .33 per cent of their total numbers. Higher Manchester Police, the 2nd greatest, had 71 off with pressure, or .99 per cent of their 7,200 complete.

Knowledgeable police constables earn £36,500 a yr that means the wage bill for the 787 officers would be just beneath £29 million over a yr, or £552,000 a week. A lot of officers earn significantly more, with the pay out scale for a superintendent growing to £72,585 a 12 months.

However, the true value to the taxpayer is unattainable to estimate because there are no figures on how lengthy each and every officer has been off sick.

Spending budget cuts have witnessed the total number of police officers fall by sixteen,000 because the Coalition came to electrical power, according to official figures published last month.

There were 128,350 officers at the finish of September 2013, a drop of virtually 3,500 in 12 months and the lowest quantity because September 2002.

A spokesman for the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, said: “The unprecedented cuts to the police support have meant that officers are under a lot more strain now than ever just before, with 16,000 officers getting been lost in the final 3 years.

“Our members are currently being asked to do more and much more with fewer assets and even though they have risen admirably to the challenge it is inevitable that the elevated pressures they’re dealing with will have an impact on their overall health and wellbeing.

“The Police Federation is doing work closely with the Association of Chief Police Officers and the School of Policing on measures to fight officer stress and played a crucial part in the introduction of new flexible doing work tips.”

Phil Mason, Derbyshire’s head of human assets, mentioned: “We are amazed that our anxiety-relevant absences are higher than other police forces as we do benchmark overall absence with other forces and there has been no indication that our absence levels are significantly higher.

“Derbyshire Constabulary delivers all workers a full confidential care worker support programme which contains counselling and emotional help. We offer you referrals to our Occupational Support Unit to aid officers with tension-connected problems, recovery and a return to operate strategy.”

Most current figures have also shown the quantity of community help officers in England and Wales has fallen by 859 12 months-on-12 months and police personnel by one,300.

Last week it emerged that police forces could be forced to spend out hundreds of thousands of lbs in compensation to former officers who have won age discrimination claims after currently being forced to retire.

A ruling on test circumstances brought on behalf of 250 officers found that five chief constables improperly utilized police laws to get rid of the officers on age grounds.

Taxpayer picks up bill for hundreds of police officers signed off with tension