FOI 897-2024 / Oct 2024 / Sick leave
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 897-2024
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 10th October 2024 as follows:
- Since January 1st 2020, how many police officers and staff working for your force have taken sick leave of any length due to PTSD, anxiety, stress, depression, or any other mental health condition? Please list the figures for police officers and staff separately and also provide the numbers broken up into yearly totals.
- Since January 1st 2020, how many police officers and staff working for your force have taken sick leave of any length due to the suspected symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? Please list the figures for police officers and staff separately and also provide the numbers broken up into yearly totals. As the current year is not finished please provide the 2024 total to date.
- Since January 1st 2020, how many police officers and staff working for your force have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? Please list the figures for police officers and staff separately and also provide the numbers broken up into yearly totals. As the current year is not finished please provide the 2024 total to date.
- Since January 1st 2020, how many work days have police officers and staff working for your force missed due to the suspected or diagnosed symptoms of PTSD? Please list the figures for police officers and staff separately and also provide the numbers broken up into yearly totals. As the current year is not finished please provide the 2024 total to date.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in providing the response to your request and for any inconvenience that this may have caused you. Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: Please be advised that the requested information in relation to Q2 to Q4 is not centrally recorded and therefore not available in a readily retrievable format. Information is not kept on the HR System in such a way to allow extraction of information specifically in relation to PTSD as the overarching categorisation in this case would be ‘Stress’. However, in order to determine where such record has been made specifically in relation to PTSD, the following would be necessary:
For Q2 (and therefore Q4), in order to ascertain whether any officers or staff have taken sick leave due to the suspected symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, it would be necessary to review all instances of sickness recorded as ‘stress’ during the stated period, on an individual basis, to determine whether any record has been made to PTSD within the details.
For Q3 (and therefore Q4), in order to ascertain whether any officers or staff have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder during the stated period, it would be necessary to review the personal records of each and every employee in force during the period (please note that this would also include any individuals who had left the force during the timeframe).
For these reasons, the work involved in determining whether information is held and what that information is exceeds the cost threshold of £450, which equates to 18 hours work at a standard rate of £25 per hour, as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
In accordance with section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for this request.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act, I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to refining your request; however, due to the volume of records that would need to be manually reviewed, I am unable to suggest a way to do this within the fees limit for these elements. However, I can advise that were you to withdraw Q2 to Q4, it may be possible to provide information for Q1 based on sickness that falls under ‘Psychological Disorder’ which includes stress, depression, anxiety etc.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton