113,217 officer working days were lost to sickness last year in Greater Manchester Police

A huge 113,217 officer working days were lost to sickness last year in Greater Manchester Police, reflecting officer burnout and a lack of support from the Government, the Chair of Greater Manchester Police Federation has said.

Mike Peake was commenting on Home Office figures collected by The Telegraph, which show that, nationally, 1.63 million police working days were lost to illness or injury in the year to March, the highest level since records began.

Mike said: “In the past financial year, 113,217 police officer working days were lost to sickness in Greater Manchester Police. Burnout in GMP has well and truly kicked in, as current officer numbers struggle to meet the demand that Greater Manchester brings.

“GMP is full of dedicated police officers who want to make a difference to the communities they serve but, while the performance of GMP continues to improve, the sustainability of the efforts required by each individual officer is getting harder.”

He said that Greater Manchester Police wasn’t getting the levels of Government funding it needed, considering its size and “enormous” policing demands.

Mike explained: “More Government funding is needed to allow GMP to significantly grow its police officer numbers. Manchester is a vibrant city that attracts many international visitors and protests, which in turn creates an enormous policing demand.

“This is seemingly ignored by the Government, yet the Metropolitan and City of London Police receive additional Government grants because of their capital city status.

“While Manchester isn’t a capital city, it has very similar demands and issues, and this must be recognised. Sadly, until this happens, I can only see sickness figures in GMP continuing to rise as officers struggle to take breaks and keep on top of their unmanageable workloads.”