This week, additional funding totalling £100,000 has been given as a package of extra support being provided to officers and staff across the UK.
The recent events and incidents of disorder have been exceptional in both scale and severity, and we recognise the immediate pressure and longer-term implications this will have.
In response to this, the Chief Executives of the Police Treatment Centres at Harrogate and Auchterarder, the North West Benevolent Fund in Lancashire and Flint House Police Rehabilitation in Oxfordshire, came together with Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Service to see what they can do to support policing through these challenging times.
Our shared goal is to ensure every officer or staff member injured either physically, psychologically (or both) can access timely, high-quality support now and into the future – being aware that sometimes the impact of events like these may take years to surface.
The Blue Light Card Foundation and The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales have contributed to this fund which will be split evenly across the three Police Treatment Centres.
This will help them to increase their capacity as we anticipate more officers and staff being referred to them as a result of the events.
Service Director of Oscar Kilo, the College of Policing’s National Police Wellbeing Service, Andy Rhodes said, ‘We are delighted that additional funding has been offered to support individuals and forces at this time. Occupational Health Units are working tirelessly to cope with a huge surge in demand and every penny of the additional funding will be spent on officers and staff to ensure nobody faces unnecessary delays getting the support and treatment they need. Police officers and staff place themselves in harm’s way and rightly expect that when they are injured the country they proudly serve will be there to help them.”
Steve Denny, Chair of Trustees, Blue Light Card Foundation said, “We have seen the unprecedented police response as unrest spread across the country. Here at the Blue Light Card Foundation, we recognise those police officers and staff injured in the line of duty need our support more than ever. We are delighted to be able to work with Oscar Kilo and the Police Treatment Centres to provide funding to pay for additional treatment for those on the frontline psychologically and physically impacted by recent events.”