Concern at police officers’ sick days

A SCOTS police force has revealed a “continuing concern” over the amount of officers taking long periods of sick leave.

Some 14% of officers in Lothian and Borders Police were off ill for ten days or more in a row last year.

Statistics released under the Freedom of Information Act show in 2012, 425 out of the force’s 3000 officers were off sick for ten or more days in one period of sickness. Scottish Conservative Chief Whip John Lamont called the figures “concerning”.

He said: “Our police officers do a great job in keeping our streets safe. However, it’s concerning so many officers are off sick for such a long period of time.

“While there will be very good reasons for an officer requiring time off, the system has to be robust enough to ensure it is not being abused”.

Overall, sickness absence across the force has fallen over the past few years.

However, in November, figures showed overall sickness absence across Lothian and Borders had increased with 6581 sick days recorded among the force’s 2897 officers between April and September.

Jackie Muller, secretary of the Lothian and Borders Police Federation, said: “The work undertaken by the force to recruit and support disabled officers in line with equality legislation must be commended but this can also lead to more sickness absence.”

A force spokeswoman said police work can be both stressful and demanding.

She said: “There are procedures in place such as critical incident stress management, and risk assessed stress management. Counselling services are on hand, as well as physiotherapy, and light-duties return to work schemes.”