Police officers and staff across England and Wales will have the chance to give their views on how the service can best support their wellbeing when the national survey launches on Monday 16 November.
The second annual national police wellbeing survey gives everyone working in policing an opportunity to have their say on the current state of wellbeing provision and support offered by forces so police leaders can assess where further improvements can be made.
The survey is being led by Chief Constable Andy Rhodes, NPCC National Wellbeing Lead and Service Director for Oscar Kilo – the National Police Wellbeing Service and is being run by Durham University, with support from the College of Policing.
Once live, the survey will remain open for around four weeks.
Chief Constable Andy Rhodes said, “We had a fantastic response rate to the first survey last year, with responses from over 34,000 police officers and staff, and we want to build on that again this year.
“It is critical that we continue ask how people are truly feeling at work so we can get a really clear picture of what we need to work on and how we can support them and their organisations.
“We want every member of the police service to feel confident they can speak up and that we will act upon what they tell us.
“To give an example, the results from last year’s survey told us that one of the big areas of concern was fatigue with 45% of police officers and 30% of police staff reporting that they sleep less than six hours per night very often or all of the time.
“Our shift workers also indicated experiencing poor sleep quality more frequently, with 27% of police officers and 25% of police staff reporting disturbed sleep.
“As a result, Oscar Kilo – the National Police Wellbeing Service has worked with leading experts in the field and has begun to roll out a series of programmes and pilots to provide support including: fatigue and shift work awareness online training package developed with experts from Washington State University – this is a pilot, which is about to be launched in four UK forces; and a series of online webinars developed with one of the leading sleep scientists in the UK which is launching this month.
“Since the last survey, we have of course seen the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which we know has had a huge impact on our officers, staff and volunteers and so as a result, this year’s survey will also focus on this as a specific issue.
“We can’t make changes unless we truly understand what is impacting people the most and so we want as many people to take part again in this years’ survey and have their voices heard.”
Chief Constable Mike Cunningham, CEO of the College of Policing, said, “It is vital we continue to do everything possible to support and enhance the health, wellbeing and resilience of officers and staff so they are best equipped to keep the public safe.
“Policing is doing an incredible job in responding to the challenges posed by Coronavirus but we are very much aware that the demands and pressures on police workers are increasing as a result.
“The surveys give us a crucial insight into what the key concerns around wellbeing are for the police workforce. We are using the information provided by officers and staff to ensure we prioritise the issues which matter most to them, both at a national level and through the support we are providing to forces.”
To find out more about the survey or to read more about the fatigue projects, please visit https://oscarkilo.org.uk/the-national-police-wellbeing-survey-2020/
