About us

The National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS) was launched in 2019 to provide support and guidance for police forces across England and Wales to improve and build organisational wellbeing.  

It is an evidence based, sector specific service which has been developed for policing, by policing, and is designed to meet the unique needs of police forces, officers and staff.

What we do

Sitting with the College of Policing, and working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Home Office, we want to:

  • help police forces build world–class wellbeing support for everyone who works for them
  • improve knowledge and understanding of help and support available
  • reduce stigma around seeking support or help
  • encourage people to support themselves and realise their own potential
  • improve personal resilience and self-help skills
Wellbeing at work on a keyboard

Our services

We aim to do this by providing practical support in seven key areas. 

  • Clinical governance including occupational health - The clinical governance group (CGG) has been established to lead and oversee clinical interventions that support the police wellbeing agenda. The CGG will set the strategic direction for, and deliver priorities in relation to, medical and occupational health policy and standards.
  • Healthy living - This brings together the work Oscar Kilo is doing in the areas of sleep, nutrition and physical health. There are ongoing academic studies in these areas, along with webinars and services to help inform and keep you up to date with the latest findings.
  • Operation Hampshire - This area provides a strategy, processes and guidance to help us respond more effectively to assaults on police officers and staff.
  • Peer support for wellbeing - Our peer support training programme provides forces with all the need to be able to implement a robust and fully functioning peer support network. Our aim is to create a consistent, national approach to peer support and a national network of trained peer supporters.
  • Psychological and trauma risk management - This includes our emergency services trauma intervention programme (ESTIP), our structured interview training and our psychological risk assessment programme and post incident support programme.
  • Wellbeing dogs - The Oscar Kilo wellbeing and trauma support dogs service aims to build on local police wellbeing dog services and make wellbeing dogs available to all forces who wish to introduce a dog as part of their wellbeing provision.
  • Wellbeing vans - The wellbeing outreach service is a fleet of bespoke fitted vans which can deploy to operating bases across England and Wales, providing a platform to deliver physical, psychological, and financial health checks for officers and staff.

Go to services

Our resources

We want everyone to feel the benefits of what we do.

We want every member of the police service to feel confident that their wellbeing is taken seriously, and that they are properly supported by their organisation.

Although our primary focus is to provide support at an organisational level, we also have resources available directly for officers and staff which can be accessed online at any time including:

  • online webinars focusing on fatigue and building resilience
  • mindfulness training - MindFit Cop
  • wellbeing podcast interviews - ‘Keeping the Peace’
  • physical fitness videos
  • self-care tips and advice
  • wellbeing news, real-life stories and experiences
  • awareness campaigns and materials including posters, videos and animations
  • signposting to other helpful organisations and sources of support

Go to resources

Additional support and guidance

We also provide additional support and guidance to policing organisations through:

  • the Blue Light Wellbeing Framework (BLWF) – a benchmarking tool for forces to assess their wellbeing provision
  • the national police wellbeing survey – a national survey providing every member of the policing workforce across England and Wales the opportunity to tell us how they truly feel at work
  • resources for use locally to promote wellbeing
  • signposting to guidance and evidence based research around emergency services wellbeing
  • access to communities of practice both UK and International

Learning and continuous improvement

The NPWS is based on learning and continuous improvement and so what we offer will grow and change over time.

The team is also working hard behind the scenes to scan and develop the wellbeing landscape through evidence based research, and using expert reference groups, staying on top of national and international trends.

This helps us look to the future and ensure we can continue to provide the most efficient and effective services to the forces that we’re working with.

Find out more about how we’re doing this below in 'More about the service'.

More about the service

The NPWS programme consists of a series of coordinated activities, events and measures to deliver the 'common goal for police wellbeing' vision, associated change and benefits of a holistic approach to psychological health and wellbeing supporting police forces to sustainably grow and manage their workforce.

Find out more

Introduction to Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Service

Find out what we are about and the services we offer. This video can be used to promote the service locally giving officers and staff a better understanding of how we support them and their forces to improve wellbeing in policing.