FOI Officer Sick Days (0676-2022/23)

Request

I would like to know the number of days taken off by police officers reporting sickness absence with a reason of anxiety, stress, depression or other psychiatric illness.

I would like this information for each of the last three calendar years as follows: 2020, 2021 and 2022 

Response

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police. 

I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police. 

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you.

The table below shows the total number of North Yorkshire Police officer absences between 01 January 2020 and 16 November 2022 due to psychological reasons including: bereavement anxiety, stress, anxiety, work related stress, depression, PTSD, bereavement, post natal depression.

Please also note, any data provided regarding sick leave is provided in the number of absences and not days. Therefore, one absence may consist of multiple days sick leave and one officer may have had more than one absence. This is to ensure consistency in recording due to the number of variables that must be considered when providing data in days such as shift patterns, flexible working arrangements and part time hours. To be able to accurately convert absences into days would require the cross referencing of an officer’s absences to their personal shifts and circumstances, and this would also exceed the time limit allowed under the Act.

Number of officer absences (01.01.2020 – 16.11.2022)
Calendar Year	Number of Absences
2020	110
2021	183
2022	165
Total	458

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.