Libor-fixing fines to fund new well-being programme for ‘Blue Light’ personnel
Nearly 9 in 10 (87 per cent) employees and volunteers have experienced stress, low mood and poor mental health while working for the emergency services, according to new data from mental health charity Mind.
The online survey of over 3,500 emergency services staff also revealed that more than half (55 per cent) had experienced mental health problems at some point.
This is a sharp increase from the findings of the 2011 CIPD report, Focus on mental health in the Workplace, which revealed that 26 per cent of respondents had experienced a mental health problem.
Last year, mental ill-health was said to have cost the UK economy between £70m and £100m in lost productivity and sickness absence. Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has pledged an extra £120m to fund the improvement in mental health care in the NHS and help combat some of these challenges.
Research has shown that those working in the emergency services have a greater risk of developing poor mental health, due to the unique set of difficulties these challenging roles present. But Mind’s latest study also indicated that emergency service workers find it harder than other professions to say when they’re not at their best and are less likely to take time off sick as a result.
Just 43 per cent of survey respondents said they had taken time off work due to poor mental health, compared to 57 per cent among the general workforce.
As a result of the growing need for support and guidance around mental health in the profession, Mind is launching a mental well-being programme for ‘Blue Light’ personnel. Funded by £4m worth of bank fines from the Libor-fixing scandal, the Blue Light Programme, aims to tackle the stigma and discrimination at an organisational level as well as across the wider public.
Under the programme, managers, employees and volunteers will be offered bespoke mental health training, and help on building the mental health resilience.
Commenting on the funding, Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind, said: “The programme we’ll be delivering over the next year aims to ensure that the estimated quarter of a million people working and volunteering within police, ambulance, fire and search and rescue divisions are able to talk openly about their mental health and access the support they need to stay well, recover and continue doing the vital and challenging roles they do serving the community.”
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg welcomed the programme and said it was “vital” that greater support was offered to the people who support us most.
"Emergency service workers save lives every day, helping people in trouble or in need, but we need to support them as they deal with the incredibly stressful and sometimes harrowing situations they face in the line of duty,” he said.
“With initiatives like this we’re helping to drive a culture change so that one day we’ll see parity of esteem between physical and mental health,” he added.
Organisations can register their interest in the Blue Light Programme by visiting www.mind.org.uk/BlueLight