The last three years have seen increasing numbers of Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service staff forced to take time off amid the wider national mental health crisis, new data shows.
Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show how incidences of staff off sick with mental health-related illness has steadily increased since 2021. However, despite 193 members of staff taking at least one day off for a mental health reason, just 14 have gone on to leave the fire service – and the fire service stressed this was a very small proportion of its staff.
The data – obtained by Accident Claims Advice – found that stress was the most-cited mental health reason for absence, followed by anxiety. It shows that in 2021/2022, 59 members of staff took one day or more off due to their mental health – this rose to 65 and then 70 in the two subsequent years.
Across the three years, 104 of those staff members took time off due to stress, though just one was due to “work-related stress”. The Fire Brigades Union has taken up the issue nationally.
Addressing the national picture, Fire Brigades Union (FBU) general secretary Matt Wrack 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.”
In the December 2024/January 2025 of the trade union’s magazine, Firefighter, union officer Ricardo La Torre wrote: “We are facing a mental health crisis in the fire and rescue service. Many studies have shown that mental health issues are far more common for UK firefighters than the general population. 60% of fire service workers who took part in a 2019 survey by Mind, the mental health charity, reported having personal experience of mental health problems.
“The most commonly experienced mental health issues were depression (39.3%), anxiety (39.1%) and PTSD (18.1%). Despite evidence that vast numbers of firefighters are grappling with their mental health, there has been little drive from leaders to investigate and address the full scale and causes of the problem.”
A spokesperson from Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, said: “At Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, the health, safety, and wellbeing of our employees is our top priority.
“This commitment to our staff’s safety has been recognised at this year’s Excellence in Fire and Emergency Awards, where we proudly received the Healthier Firefighters Award: Excellence in Contaminants and Decontamination. This award underscores our dedication to maintaining the highest standards of protection and care for our employees.”
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