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Police Covenant Consultation Group minutes 23 May 2023

Updated 15 January 2024

Overview

The group focussed on how police mental health has knock-on effects for families and loved ones. The discussion included creating training/guidance to help families spot symptoms of mental health concerns, how to incorporate families into the policing community more effectively and ways forces can support their staff better to improve their mental health.

Learning and support for families

• The group highlighted that many officers and staff could be in denial about their mental health for institutional and personal reasons. Therefore, it could be beneficial for their families to be given the opportunity to learn more about the symptoms of mental health so they can be better prepared to help and support their loved ones.
  • They identified that there is scope for guidance documents to be created which clarify how to spot the signs and symptoms of mental health issues and how best to support their loved ones with any issues that may arise.
  • Alternatively, the group suggested this learning could be provided by the forces themselves offering training for families. This could have the advantage of both bringing the family member into the wider policing family as well as providing greater support for their officers and staff.
  • Green Ribbon Policing strongly believe there should be mandatory requirements for all forces to provide education, training and support on police mental health for police family members. Families can then decide whether they wish to attend this training, to learn more about the risks the police face, how to better spot symptoms of mental illness faster and more generally how to support their loved ones in policing.
• The group discussed the potential for increased incidence of poor mental health within policing families, particularly in children with parents in policing. Currently there are long waiting lists for children’s Mental Health services, which could exacerbate domestic issues within their families.
• The Police Children’s Charity provide a very wide range of grants for the children of Police Officers and Staff who have died or taken early medical retirement. These include Weekly Income Support Payments, Christmas, Summer and Birthday Grants, Driving Lesson Grants, Higher Education Grants, Ex Gratia Applications, and several other grants. Serving Police Officers and Police Staff can also apply for Ex Gratia Wellbeing Grants and Grants for Child Counselling
• The group agreed there needs to be more proactive signposting within the police to inform them of the options available for them and their families and more for the existing workforce as well as new joiners.
• Several organisations have created books for children with parents who are in policing, which cover complex and sensitive issues, to help children understand that their parent/loved one may go through periods of not being happy or need time to rest and recover.

Support from families

• The group noted that families tend to be play a key role in members of the police workforce leaving their roles within policing, as they are concerned over their safety. It was also noted that there is often a ‘brick wall’ between work and home-life for those working in policing and police often consciously keep the two separate.
• The group raised the benefits of having family open days to help foster a greater understanding of how members of the workforce are supported. The group suggested that this could break down barriers between forces and families and allow families to see who is looking after their loved ones and keeping them safe at work.

Support from forces or others

• Some forces are proactively managing expectations of new joiners through a personally tailored home visit to talk them through the reality of the job. This gives them the opportunity to decide if this is something they will be able to handle emotionally and mentally. The officers doing the home visits also speak to families, to explain policing and answer any concerns or questions and again, set expectations about what their loved ones will face.
• Some forces have also begun giving new joiners check in reports and action plans to ensure they are being properly supported through their onboarding experience.
• Other forces trialled having welfare inspectors (‘Welfare Barometers’) who act as support systems and manage all welfare concerns and peer support.

• Police Care UK have conducted research^{[footnote 1]} with the University of Cambridge on trauma to create training to help officers showing signs of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This trauma resilience training (Trauma Impact Prevention Techniques, TIPT) has been embraced by 12 forces currently, but they are looking to make this a national project. They are looking at having a version of TIPT for line managers, particularly those supervising new recruits. The training could potentially open out to include families in the future as they can help to encourage and support their police officer/staff to utilise the training.

• Other forces are taking a trauma-informed approach to welfare and have dedicated mental health managers and wellbeing networks. Many offer bespoke training for line managers.
• It was flagged that although the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS) now offers bereavement counselling for family members of officers or staff who have died, family bereavement more generally is something that can have a huge impact on individuals working in policing, particularly if they are already affected by trauma.
• It was noted that focus groups were conducted for the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) which highlighted the negative knock-on effects of investigations for families. One force has a bespoke welfare process for those undergoing gross misconduct proceedings, run separately from line management chains.
• The group suggested the creation of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signed by all forces, to formalise their support for families.
• Another way this was suggested was via standardised Authorised Professional Practise (APP) on wellbeing.
• The group highlighted the issue of addiction within the police, particularly alcoholism. One force noted they currently provide a new police-only bespoke addiction service. It focuses on education, with speakers giving talks on their lived experiences and works with Professional Standards Departments to help some people into rehab.
• The group discussed the need for better transition support for police when leaving via retirement or resignation and flagged that for some, mental health issues only emerge after leaving. Families are keen to understand broader policy around this. It was suggested that we should look at the way this is managed by the military.
• One suggestion was to connect police leavers and the Police Treatment Centres, to help support them and their families even after they have left the service.
• There is no definitive data on suicides amongst police leavers. The group questioned what support is out there for those who have left policing and whether it was possible to form a true picture of the problems leavers face or the impact on their families. It was flagged that it may not be possible to collect accurate data on suicide amongst those who have left policing as there is currently no consistent way of maintaining contact with them.

Communications

• The group agreed that there needs to be more publicity for the Covenant overall and its work to communicate that it is a long-term commitment to supporting police.
• Within this, it was suggested that there should be more positive stories shared about policing – families may only see the negative stories, and this influences their perceptions of their spouse/partner/parent’s work. This could be done locally, perhaps via force newsletters.
• The group noted that a lot of police families are unaware of what they have signed up for or what support and advice is available to them, and don’t know where/how to find it. More needs to be done to signpost this. This includes a list of charities providing different kinds of support for the police, their children, and families. It was highlighted that negative perceptions of police behaviour do not tend to take account of their wellbeing. The group suggested it would be worth investigating whether mental wellbeing is included as part of the Professional Standards Department’s (PSD) investigations or when behaviour is otherwise scrutinised.

Tangibles/ideas:

• children’s books for policing
• family open days
• force/family Q&A sessions
• guidance to help families spot symptoms of mental health and how to support them
• transition process for leavers (look into army process)
• research into suicide/PTSD/mental health of police leavers
• positive stories in communications
• more signposting to charities/organisations and their benefits!
• MOU to standardise support for workers and families

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1. Police Care UK; University of Cambridge (2019) Trauma Impact Prevention Techniques (TIPT) - Police Care UK ↩