Number of police off on long-term sickness rises

Sickness absences at Lothian and Borders Police were today said to be of “continuing concern” after figures revealed 14 per cent of officers were off ill for ten days or more in a row last year.

Statistics released under the Freedom of Information Act show that, in 2012, 425 out of the force’s 3000 officers were off sick for ten or more days in one period of sickness. Insiders suggested that the problem was caused by a lack of desk jobs for officers recovering from illness.

A police insider said: “In the old days, if a police officer was not quite ready for active duty there were desk jobs you could give them. Now these positions have been 
civilianised, so officers have to be 100 per cent fit – you can still be a teacher with a sore leg, but not an active police officer.

“There are people who will be off with stress, but most of the officers will have physical injuries.

“Working routine shifts out on the streets can be pretty hard going and you do tend to pick up 
injuries.”

Scottish Conservative Chief Whip John Lamont described the statistics as “concerning”.

He said: “Our police officers do a great job in keeping our streets safe, often in the face of danger and provocation.

“However, it’s concerning that so many officers are going off sick for so 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.

But 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.