A firefighter’s union has declared a crisis of mental health across the UK as new figures show a rise in the number of staff absences in Suffolk.
Data obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Accident Claims Advice (ACA) found 1,485 staff at Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) took at least one day off work due to mental health concerns in the last three years.
Anxiety, stress, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were the most commonly cited conditions for absences since 2021.
A mental health crisis in the fire service has been declared. Picture: iStock
Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said: “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.”
In 2021/22, 491 mental health-related staff absences were recorded for Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service, while there were 437 the following year.
However, for 2023/24 this reached a high of 557.
A spokesman for SFRS estimated the cost of all absences, including illness and mental health, since 2021 amounted to £18 million.
This equates to £5,171,367.02 in 2021/22, rising to £6,256.288.18 in 2022/23 and £7,170,262.62 for 2023/24.
The spokesman confirmed the figures at Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service were in line with regional and national trends.
The data found that, of the 491 SFRS staff who took time off work due to mental health in 2021/21, 66 went on to leave the service altogether.
This dipped to 56 in 2022/23 before rising to 79 in 2023/24.
However, the data did now show if mental health was the sole reason for staff leaving.
Regarding these figures, the SRFS spokesman said: “We have a low rate of employees who leave on ill-health grounds. In the last three years the number of employees leaving for reasons of mental health is less than five, of which two were for reasons not connected with firefighting service.”
Mr Wrack said the mental health crisis must be addressed.
He said: “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.”
SFRS has said it takes employee’s mental health extremely seriously.
The spokesman added: “SFRS is proud of the occupational health support that we have in place for our employees and the number who return to work.
“Doing so enables us to get appropriate support for our staff when they need it most.
“We also have data from our occupational health provider which indicates that most of our mental health cases are not attributable to work.
“The issue of mental health and its effect on our workforce is extremely important to SFRS and we endeavour to ensure that the support we provide, both professionally and through our welfare officers and the FireFighters Charity, gets to those that need it.”