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Police: Sick Leave

Volume 463: debated on Monday 3 September 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average annual rate of sickness absence was in each police force in each of the last five years. (152272)

Data from 2004-05 onwards are collated and published as part of the Policing Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF). These data are in the form of working hours lost to sickness and are published on the Home Office website located at the following link:

http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/performance-and-measurement/performance-assessment/

Data for and prior to 2003-04, are not on the same basis as those available for 2004-05 onwards. These data are in the form of working days lost to sickness and are published in the Annual Report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspectorate of Constabulary, located at the following link:

http://inspectorates.homeoffice.gov.uk/hmic/about/annual-reports.html/

The available data are given in the following tables:

Police officer and staff average number of working days1 lost per annum to sickness per person2

2001-02

2002-03

2003-04

Officers

Staff

Officers

Staff

Officers

Staff

Avon and Somerset

13.0

12.5

11.4

12.8

11.0

12.7

Bedfordshire

9.5

10.0

8.0

9.2

8.5

9.5

Cambridgeshire

12.0

11.4

11.4

11.6

10.3

11.2

Cheshire

13.8

13.7

11.5

12.9

9.3

9.5

City of London

12.1

13.1

9.0

9.6

10.3

7.6

Cleveland

12.2

13.9

10.4

11.6

9.0

10.3

Cumbria

13.4

8.9

10.9

8.5

9.9

9.8

Derbyshire

11.5

12.1

10.0

9.6

9.7

8.9

Devon and Cornwall

10.4

13.4

8.9

13.3

8.2

11.6

Dorset

10.0

10.3

11.0

11.0

10.7

10.6

Durham

11.1

11.9

10.1

12.6

9.8

10.3

Dyfed-Powys

10.5

9.7

9.6

11.1

10.9

11.4

Essex

11.2

12.9

10.3

11.0

8.2

11.1

Gloucestershire

10.7

11.8

11.0

11.7

9.8

11.1

Greater Manchester

12.7

14.7

11.0

14.3

10.2

n/a

Gwent

15.6

12.0

10.5

13.2

13.8

17.1

Hampshire

11.1

11.3

9.5

9.8

8.8

8.8

Hertfordshire

11.9

10.9

10.6

12.4

10.4

12.2

Humberside

8.6

10.2

7.8

8.1

6.1

8.7

Kent

11.1

11.8

10.7

12.7

11.8

10.9

Lancashire

11.6

11.7

10.9

14.1

10.1

11.4

Leicestershire

12.2

13.1

10.5

11.8

8.4

12.5

Lincolnshire

12.0

11.3

11.9

12.1

9.9

10.7

Merseyside

12.6

12.4

13.0

13.7

11.4

13.6

Metropolitan Police

10.4

11.1

9.7

10.7

8.4

10.4

Norfolk

12.2

13.9

10.6

11.0

9.2

11.9

Northamptonshire

8.5

7.7

10.9

5.7

12.2

7.4

Northumbria

9.0

12.6

8.9

12.8

8.7

11.2

North Wales

10.5

15.0

9.0

10.2

10.5

11.3

North Yorkshire

9.9

10.7

10.0

11.2

11.1

9.8

Nottinghamshire

11.4

16.5

12.2

15.7

11.6

12.7

South Wales

12.7

14.0

10.1

13.9

10.2

12.9

South Yorkshire

11.6

14.6

9.9

13.7

8.3

11.4

Staffordshire

14.3

12.4

11.8

12.1

10.8

10.2

Suffolk

9.0

7.4

9.6

8.1

7.9

7.1

Surrey

10.9

13.8

10.7

12.9

9.9

10.5

Sussex

11.1

10.7

11.3

11.9

11.3

10.9

Thames Valley

11.4

9.3

10.6

9.5

8.8

9.4

Warwickshire

10.9

13.1

10.3

11.2

8.0

9.0

West Mercia

13.2

10.2

11.5

10.8

10.4

11.3

West Midlands

13.1

14.0

10.7

12.6

8.1

10.1

West Yorkshire

13.4

12.4

9.7

11.0

8.3

9.3

Wiltshire

13.2

8.1

12.9

9.1

12.4

9.8

1 Prior to 2004-05 sickness data were recorded in days rather than hours.

2 Data published in the Annual Report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspectorate of Constabulary.

Police officer and staff average number of working hours1 lost per annum to sickness per person2

2004-05

2005-06

Officers

Staff

Officers

Staff

Avon and Somerset

81.7

78.4

87.2

91.2

Bedfordshire

81.4

69.7

90.8

70.6

Cambridgeshire

98.4

93.9

87.4

80.2

Cheshire

97.1

93.5

80.3

90.1

City of London

53.6

64.6

50.0

63.4

Cleveland

56.4

62.1

62.5

77.9

Cumbria

85.2

62.5

67.2

58.9

Derbyshire

80.4

60.2

69.6

67.9

Devon and Cornwall

73.8

83.3

67.4

86.5

Dorset

100.1

84.3

90.3

71.4

Durham

88.7

84.9

95.9

83.5

Dyfed Powys

92.7

80.7

78.7

63.6

Essex

56.3

63.0

64.0

67.3

Gloucestershire

73.8

79.3

87.2

70.4

Greater Manchester

81.3

91.9

74.8

85.0

Gwent

115.3

118.2

92.3

80.3

Hampshire

8.3

8.2

63.4

56.0

Hertfordshire

86.2

75.6

78.3

66.5

Humberside

53.8

56.9

45.1

59.2

Kent

77.8

77.9

70.0

68.5

Lancashire

82.8

69.3

71.5

57.3

Leicestershire

75.8

79.0

67.4

85.9

Lincolnshire

82.5

68.8

68.2

64.2

Merseyside

90.4

88.7

77.0

89.6

Metropolitan Police

56.4

65.4

54.3

64.3

Norfolk

73.8

73.9

76.8

82.7

North Wales

70.8

55.8

76.9

78.7

North Yorkshire

73.3

66.6

80.9

75.6

Northamptonshire

85.8

60.0

70.8

55.9

Northumbria

77.1

79.4

77.7

72.9

Nottinghamshire

89.2

90.3

78.1

86.8

South Wales

86.0

95.1

94.1

78.6

South Yorkshire

84.0

95.4

64.0

77.5

Staffordshire

76.4

68.2

82.1

78.1

Suffolk

63.9

52.7

64.3

56.6

Surrey

70.6

65.8

66.4

61.7

Sussex

91.5

81.1

77.6

72.7

Thames Valley

65.6

73.6

55.9

74.0

Warwickshire

60.2

56.5

81.4

78.2

West Mercia

87.8

80.6

82.0

73.5

West Midlands

51.1

63.1

58.7

66.6

West Yorkshire

76.7

71.8

63.4

63.1

Wiltshire

81.8

79.0

84.0

73.9

1 From 2004-05 onwards sickness data were recorded in hours rather than days.

2 Data published in the Home Office Police Performance Monitoring Reports and online.