Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service (DWFS) has revealed the reasons for staff absences due to mental health in the last three years amid what the Fire Brigades Union calls a “crisis across the UK’s fire and rescue services.”
The service estimates that mental health sick leave has cost more than £500,000 in the last three years, and the figure is rising year on year.
Between 2021 and 2024, 186 Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service staff took at least one day off work due to mental health issues.
Of those, the most common reasons included; work-related stress, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) General Secretary, Matt Wrack, told ACA: “We are facing a mental health crisis in the fire and rescue service.
“Since attending traumatic incidents is an unavoidable part of the job for firefighters, mental health support is vital.”
Of those Dorset & Wiltshire Fire staff who took time off due to mental health in the year 2021/22, 11 per cent went on to leave the service.
Fire Service staff absences due to mental health (Image: Accident Claims Advice) READ MORE: Record number of Wiltshire people died because of alcohol
This soared the following year when 30 per cent of staff who had been off work due to mental health subsequently left the year, rising again to 41 per cent in the year 2023/24.
The Fire Service estimates the cost of hours lost for sickness due to mental health was £117,835 in 2021/22, rising to £201,509 the following year.
In the last year, the estimated costs to the service reached a peak of £266,242. However, the figures provided do not include on-call staff so are likely to be even higher.
FBU’s Matt Wrack added: “Despite the evidence that firefighters are struggling, fire service mental health provision is patchy across the UK.
“After a decade of cuts to the fire and rescue service, firefighters are being pushed beyond limits to keep the public safe. Responding to life-or-death situations without adequate resources is intensely stressful. To address this mental health crisis, we need central government to provide the investment needed to rebuild the service.”