DEVON and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service has seen a 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 via a Freedom of Information Request to the service has found that anxiety, stress and depression were the most common conditions cited for staff mental health absences in the last three years.
The fire service estimates the total cost for all sickness absences since 2021 amounts to a £7million.
Between 2021 and 2024, a total of 303 DSFRS staff took at least one day off work for mental health reasons.
In 2021/22, 106 staff absences were recorded, 66 of which were cited as being due to stress, while a further 15 were logged as anxiety as well as seven for depression and six for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - bearing in mind more than one condition can be cited as the reason for absence.
The following year, 90 staff members took time off work due to mental health with 63 due to stress and a further 12 for anxiety.
In 2023/24 the figure reached a three-year-high with 107 mental health staff absences recorded, 72 of which were due to stress, 15 for anxiety and eight marked as depression.