FOI 380475

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 380475

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 2^nd January 2025.  Please find below the response to your request:

Between January 1st 2024 up to and including December 31st 2024:

How many police officers and staff working for your force have taken sick leave of any length due to any mental health condition?

How many police officers and staff working for your force have taken sick leave of any length due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

How many police officers and staff working for your force have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

How many work days have police officers and staff working for your force missed due to the suspected or diagnosed symptoms of PTSD?

Please provide the figures for officers and staff separately.

Reply

Your request for information has been considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”), and I am not obliged to provide the information requested.

S.12(1) of the Act states that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the “appropriate limit”.  For police forces in England and Wales, the "appropriate limit" is £450 or 18 hours of work as set by the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.

The information you have requested is not available in a readily retrievable format with regards to the part of your request: How many police officers and staff working for your force have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

In order to ascertain whether the information you have requested is held would take in excess of 18 hours as each police officer and staff record would have to be checked individually to see if a diagnosis has been recorded on their file. Please note that this would not be a diagnosis that West Mercia police would normally make as it has to be diagnosed by a medical practitioner.

In accordance with s.17(5) of the Act, this acts as a Refusal Notice.

However, in accordance with Section 16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request and can provide the information requested for the remaining questions as this was retrieved during our initial research. This should not be taken as a precedent that additional information would be supplied outside of the time/fees legislation for any subsequent requests.

How many police officers and staff working for your force have taken sick leave of any length due to any mental health condition?

How many police officers and staff working for your force have taken sick leave of any length due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

How many work days have police officers and staff working for your force missed due to the suspected or diagnosed symptoms of PTSD?