“Firefighters are being pushed beyond limits to keep the public safe,” says Fire Brigades Union
London Fire Brigade (LFB) has seen a staggering 47 per cent rise in staff absences due to mental health amid what the Fire Brigades Union is calling a “crisis across the UK’s fire and rescue services.”
Data obtained by Accident Claims Advice (ACA) via a Freedom of Information Request to the service has also found that stress, anxiety and depression were the most common conditions cited for staff mental health absences in the last three years.
What’s more, the service estimates the total cost of sickness absences (including for mental health) since 2021 amounts to an eye-watering £84m – with the figure rising year on year.
Between 2021 and 2024, a total of 1,129 London Fire Brigade staff members took at least one day off work due to mental health.
In 2021/22, 309 staff absences were recorded by the Fire Service as being due to stress, 74 per cent (230) of which were cited as being due to ‘stress’. A further 37 absences were marked as ‘anxiety related illness’, 26 were attributed to ‘depression’ and 16 were described as ‘other psychological.’
The following year, 365 mental health absences were logged by LFB, again with 74 per cent (270) down to ‘stress’ and another 48 for ‘anxiety related illness. There were also eight absences marked as due to ‘adverse trauma response’ up from five the previous year.
In 2023/24, staff absences due to mental health reached a three-year-high with 468 recorded by the LFB – a rise of 47 per cent compared with 2021.
Again the most common reason was ‘stress’; accounting for 78 per cent of mental health absences while a further 43 absences were categorised as ‘anxiety related illness,’ 23 were marked as due to ‘depression’ and 19 as ‘other psychological.’ There were also 10 logged as ‘adverse trauma response.’
London Fire Brigade estimates that the total cost of all sickness absences (including for mental health) to the service amounted to £25,693,253.88 between 2021/22.
The following year, the figure rose to £28,697,037.01 and is now at a three-year-high with the estimated cost to the service standing at £29,552,381.75 for 2023/24.
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.”
Secretary 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.”
Accidentclaimsadvice.org.uk offers a specialist service for anyone looking for support and advice after being affected by mental health.
They operate a 24-hour helpline and live chat service which you can access on their website.
For more information please visit: https://www.accidentclaimsadvice.org.uk/mental-health-claims/
