Sick leave costs police millions

Staff sickness costs Leicestershire Police millions of pounds each year, figures have revealed.

But according to the force, sickness figures are being reduced, with a 5% decrease from last year.

Absence of police officers brought costs equating to £2.8m, while civilian staff sickness was valued at £1.3m.

A new absenteeism officer is being employed to record sickness statistics and analyse patterns so that long-term action plans can be put in place.

'Distressing situations'

Supt Jez Leavesley, head of human resources operations, said the rates compared favourably with other public sector organisations and police forces around the country.

He said with approximately 2,250 officers in the Leicestershire Police force, the average was less than nine days off a year per officer.

He added that long-term sickness and stress were issues that needed to be tackled, due to "distressing situations" faced by police officers on a daily basis.

Supt Leavesley said the newly created post of absenteeism officer "is partly to analyse our sickness statistics and data and provide analytical capability".