Updates

Health and wellbeing goal - Improve workforce mental health and reduce suicide

Workforce mental health and suicide prevention action plan (Q2 – 25/26)

The development of a workforce mental health and suicide prevention action plan will be a key focus in 2025/26 and will aim to connect the work in this space throughout the organisation. At present we are undertaking a mapping exercise which helps us to recognise the existing work in this space and explore how potentially this work can be aligned to greater effect. We are also working with colleagues internally to update and enhance wellbeing content that exists in current learning programmes throughout PS/SPA. This is an ongoing/long-term piece of work but will ensure a well-considered, relevant wellbeing curriculum for officers, staff and those who are line managers to support them in undertaking their roles.

Lifelines Scotland (Ongoing)

There are currently 106 facilitators with 100 of these fully signed off by Lifelines Scotland to deliver, the remaining 6 are in the process. The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) have agreed to part fund website and facilitator assurance for financial year 2025/26 and we are in the process of putting into place a memorandum of understanding to support facilitator delivery in 2025/26.

The Lifelines Scotland Facilitators programme continues to be rolled out and currently has a reach of c.3687 people (Modules 1-5 = 2350 people / Module 6-9 = 1337 people). As of November 2024, completion of the training is now recognised within our staff and officer SCOPE records.

Since the September 2024 probationer intake, all probationers receive the Lifelines Scotland input, to coincide with becoming operationally live. This is delivered in-house by our probationary training facilitators.

Wellbeing Champions Network (Ongoing)

 At present we have 232 wellbeing champions within our network. Throughout the year this has decreased from approx. 248 through retirement and officer or staff relinquishing the role due to capacity. However, we are maintaining our aim of a network headcount of 1 champion for every 100 colleagues.

We continue to implement a structure of continuous personal development for champions with monthly themed sessions, these have included Police Care UK, See Me Campaign, PSD Investigation Feedback Guidance, Vivup – Employee Assistance Programme, LGBTI Ally, Optima Health – Occupational Health contract, Your Voice Matters, mediation, Police care UK, stress awareness and resilience and the Police Treatment Centre.

The champions activity tracker, which is our commitment to explore how we can provide greater feedback and evaluation on the roles of the champions throughout our organisation, continues to provide us with insight and trends emerging throughout the force. These have consistently included mental health issues, service provision and force mobilisation.

The tracker also allows us to track champion activity within their areas and we can see that many are failing to engage in the completion of the monthly tracker and to commit to the core elements of being a champion as outlined below i.e. there were 54 submissions in April out of 232 Wellbeing Champions at that time.

• Protected (paid) time of up to 4 hours per month for each Champion to undertake their role.
• Committing to 3 pieces of wellbeing work conducted over a 4-month period to continue in the role of a Wellbeing Champion.

The 12-month network review mark is approaching at which point we will return to the Finance and People Board with a full overview of the network and proposals for the future.

Police Traumatic Events Checklist (Q4 – 25/26)

We have held initial discussions, both internally and externally, around the implementation and development of the Police Traumatic Events Checklist (PTEC) for Police Scotland and this will be a key focus in 2025/26. PTEC can empower individuals to self-reflect on the common ground of their most vulnerable and resilient moments in a fresh and honest way. PTEC may also bring new organisational insight into the reality of trauma load and the risks to psychological resilience that come with specific roles.

Trauma Risk Management (Q2 – 25/26)

We will undertake an in-depth review of our support provisions in relation to trauma (including TRiM) to ensure we have appropriate and effective support mechanisms in place. This will be a focus of Q2 25/26.

Your Wellbeing Assessment (Q3 – 25/26)

Your Wellbeing Assessment (YWA) a confidential screening tool (an MOT, but for our mental health) has now been shared with all officers and staff across the organisation. YWA was reviewed and redesigned by Optima Health for 2025. The reminders & the redesigned questionnaires were e-mailed to all officers & staff between 6 February and 3 March 2025.

The objective of the assessment is to, with consent, put in place support, advice and guidance before an individual may realise that they need it. The assessment will be reviewed by a member of Optima Health’s mental health team. The questions asked are to enable the mental health clinician to spot the early signs of potential difficulties before they become problems. During quarter 4 a total of 887 assessments were reviewed with the opportunity for onward routing to counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) support where appropriate.

Collaborate with Health & Safety (Q2 – 25/26 and then ongoing)

We are currently working with health and safety to explore our organisational approach to health surveillance with a specific focus on audiometry. Health surveillance is a way to monitor employee health and detect early signs of work-related ill health. Any health surveillance programme would support our current fitness for task medicals. We will return to the Board at a future date with a proposal in this space.

Health and wellbeing goal - Set strategic direction for health and wellbeing which is equitable, evidence informed and evaluated

The National Police Wellbeing Service (Oscar Kilo) Collaboration (Q1 -25/26)

The National Police Wellbeing Service (Oscar Kilo) collaboration memorandum of understanding has now been approved by information assurance and information security and is now with Oscar Kilo for final review and sign off. The next step is to meet with Oscar Kilo colleagues to agree a delivery plan for the next 12 months with a particular focus on the Blue Light Wellbeing framework.

People Strategic Plans (Q1 – 25/26)

People strategic plans have been developed in collaboration with our People Partners. They contain specific wellbeing measures for local leaders to commit to and be held accountable for. These plans are out for consultation and it is anticipated that these will be implemented in line with the People and Development restructure.

Health and Wellbeing Governance Board (Q4 - 24/25)

A review of the purpose and impact of the Health and Wellbeing Governance Board has taken place. Health and wellbeing will report into the newly merged Finance and People Board with health and wellbeing now a standing item on the Boards agenda.

Health and Wellbeing Communications and Engagement (Q3 – 25/26)

The team recently attended a number of events including the Scottish LGBTI Police Association AGM as well as events set up by Policing Together and Professional Standards to deliver a health and wellbeing workshop to those in attendance. The workshop aims to develop understanding of health and wellbeing, the influences and determinants of health and wellbeing and how we can all take positive action to support not only our own health and wellbeing but that of our colleagues and teams.

The health and wellbeing intranet site has been reviewed and is now a reliable source of information. We have been tracking the usage of the site over the last 12 months with 102,000 hits during this time. The most popular areas of the site include Employee Assistance Programme, Occupational Health (over 10,000 each) and the wellbeing champions site (over 5,000). These insights are enabling us to continually evolve and improve the site. A new look and improved content will be launched in the coming months.

Your Voice Matters 24/25 – WHO-5 - Reporting on the World Health Organisation Wellbeing (WHO) Index (Q2 – 25/26 and ongoing)

Health and wellbeing contributed to the design of the survey and the WHO-5 index questions were included as investigating the wellbeing of colleagues who completed the workforce survey is crucial in planning and shaping our health and wellbeing programme to support our colleagues’ needs.

General wellbeing was measured by how colleagues felt during the past two weeks, in line with the WHO criteria. As a guide, a score of above 52% is considered a good wellbeing score. Police Scotland’s score at present is 46%, median 48%, which further highlights the importance of the health and wellbeing action plan and our commitment to deliver on each aspect.

When looking deeper at all respondents to the survey (n = 10,613), there were similar levels across several of the WHO-5 questions. Most notably, though, was that only a third (31%) of all respondents identified that they had woken up feeling fresh and rested more than half the time in the past two weeks. The chart below provides an overview of responses across the WHO-5 index.

Develop Neurodiversity Offering (Q2 – 25/26)

We are currently working with our occupational health provider to review our current neurodiversity support offering to ensure that it is fit for purpose and adequate in relation to this ever-growing demand. We are actively linking in with the neurodiversity strategic oversight board on the development of this area.

The negative impact of the ongoing challenges and delays we face due to the Department of Work and Pensions, Access to Work programme is being felt across the organisation and has led us to raise this as an organisational risk. We are progressing work to review and provide recommendations for the future of this process.

Continuous review and development of the IHR/IOD processes (Ongoing)

Further to recommendations 5.2 and 5.3 of the internal audit of ill health retirement and injury on duty carried out by BDO, members are invited to note the feedback from the survey introduced for both processes and progress against the themes identified in the audit where negative experiences had been identified.

The internal audit of ill health retirement and injury on duty was approved by the Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee of the Authority on 7 November 2023. The audit made recommendations related to Police Scotland requiring to improve the analysis of feedback from participants in both ill health retirement and injury on duty processes.

The audit also recommended that from this feedback, lessons learned activity should be undertaken to analyse and address negative feedback and issues and provide an update to the people committee.

During the audit, BDO obtained feedback from a small sample of officers and ex officers put forward by the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), this highlighted of a number of areas of negative experience from both processes. This included lack of awareness of case progress, uncertainty about when to expect updates or who to contact for updates as well as lack of information in documentation, especially regarding rights of appeal.

Police Scotland and the SPA had already identified changes to approaches in relation to support and contact for participants in these processes. Changes included nominated case advisors for support through these processes, including the offer of an initial meeting to makes agreements on the timing and format updates to the individual’s case.

To assist in fulfilling both recommendations 5.2 and 5.3, a survey for participants in both processes was created in March 2024. Survey questions were focussed on enquiring about issues that had been provided to the auditors, specifically around support, progress updates and supporting documentation.

A total of 16 responses were received across the year which represents around 30% of the officers who have been through these processes since the survey was introduced in March 2024.

Members are requested to note that in response to question two – ‘Were you provided with details of your nominated Advisor who was supporting your case through the process?’ 75% of respondents advised that they had.

Similarly for question three – ‘Did you have an initial meeting or communications with the Advisor at the beginning of the process?’ 75% of respondents again advised they had. Whilst the rationale for those answering ‘no’ to both the name of the nominated support contact and this question is unknown Police Scotland, we will reaffirm with case advisors and case managers the need to ensure the now agreed approach is undertaken.

In response to question ten - “Overall, how satisfied were you with the support you received during the process?” Members will note 75% of participants now reporting either being very satisfied, satisfied with or not dissatisfied with the support they received though either process.

There are some responses indicating significant dissatisfaction with support during these processes. We will look to find out further information regarding these issues and work with stakeholders including the SPF to identify any learning or change in practice required.

We will also contact those who report a negative experience where their details are provided to identify any remedial steps necessary. Results will continue to be reported as required to the people committee and updates along with any changes made to Ill Health Retiral and Injury on duty processes resulting from feedback.

Occupational Health (Ongoing)

Since 1 April 2024 we have had 5,833 touch points with occupational health through management referrals.

This year has seen a significant increase in the number of recruitment medicals with 1,418 delivered by the end of quarter four due to our increase in intake numbers.

Physiotherapy is also on the rise with 3,988 assessments and treatments sessions delivered this year.

The new ‘My OH’ portal was introduced at the beginning of September 2024. The portal hosts all occupational health related activity and provides us with a new level of data and insights via Power BI. An example of referral volumes opened and closed by month and employee condition is provided below.

In relation to contract performance the areas of challenge across this year have been within the approach to recruitment medicals, delivery of occupational health reports and occupational health reporting content (modified duties and reasonable adjustments)

Alongside our contract management colleagues, we have been working with the provider to ensure positive action in these areas including:

• Short life working group set up with recruitment and Optima Health with a review and improvement action plan in place.
• Introduction of the ‘My OH’ portal, has improved timely delivery and efficiency of reporting.
• People and Development have been working with the Senior Medical Director and the Clinical Lead at Optima Health to ensure the focus of reports is based on the ‘Office of Constable’ and the organisational demands.
Employee Assistance Programme (ongoing)

Since 1 April 2024 we have had 1,956 officer and staff contacts with the EAP service

1,104 staff and officers advanced to the counselling service via the 24/7 helpline. 4,283 sessions of support have been delivered which vary from in the moment support via telephone to the virtual and face to face.

This support also includes more specialist support in the form of Pure CBT and EMDR with nearly 300 sessions delivered to officers and staff.

As of the end of March 2025, 86.01% of clients receiving therapy were experiencing positive outcomes after the therapy.

51% of officer and staff outlined that their line manager introduced them to the EAP

In relation to contract performance the areas of challenge across this year have been in relation to telephone support service, the triage of calls, the provision of face-to-face counselling and the timely response to complaints. We, alongside our contract management colleagues have been working with the provider to ensure positive action in these areas. This includes:

• The telephone and triage of calls are now all done in house and allocated staffing levels have been reviewed and increased.
• There has been a significant increase in the network of counsellors that can be utilised across to Scotland, this is now over 100. Police Scotland vetting have provided great support in the processing of applications.
• New update timelines introduced for all complaints, with individuals supported throughout the investigation until it reaches a conclusion.
Health and Wellbeing partner forum (ongoing)

Our partners are key in assisting us in how we support our officers and staff; not only as key allies in support of the health and wellbeing work, we do, but also in their own roles, providing support mechanisms and vital networks for our people.

It is essential that we have strong, positive links with these partners and maintain open communication channels to allow both sides to contribute to supporting the wellbeing of our people and to ensure joined up, collaborative relationships. It will also allow health and wellbeing to continue to improve engagement with officers and staff, as part of our action following on from the HMICS Frontline Focus - Wellbeing Report (April 2024).

2.54 The health and wellbeing partner forum held its first meeting in November 2024. The first meeting was a positive and productive beginning to this community, with attendees agreeing to the draft common purpose: Working together to improve the health and wellbeing of everyone in PS and SPA. The terms of reference (ToR) and ways of working were agreed. In January 2025, the focus was on culture, and a follow-up meeting is to be confirmed in due course.

Health and wellbeing goal - develop a workforce who prioritise wellbeing

Police Scotland learning products contain consistent wellbeing messages (ongoing)

Work is being undertaken to develop a common thread of health and wellbeing content in all learning content throughout the organisation. A summary of some of the ongoing activity is provided below:

• Health and wellbeing content in probationer training and unit 5 (health and wellbeing) has been reviewed and new content planned, revised learning outcomes to be approved by SQA

• For managers, the eLearning HWB related content for the sergeant’s diploma, Police Leadership Development Programme (PLDP) has been reviewed and improvements implemented.

• New HWB content for the newly promoted chief superintendent and superintendent learning programmes was piloted with c. 40 civilian investigators in early January 2025 and the first cohort of chief superintendents and superintendents in February 2025. This content is now expanded and part of the first session for each of the future cohorts of learners. Plans for Level 3 evaluation are being developed with leadership and talent colleagues.

• Senior Investigating Officers (SIO) course review is also underway.

• Staff induction HWB content has been updated.

• Health and wellbeing content in probationer training and unit five (health and wellbeing) has been reviewed and new content is now in place. Revised learning outcomes will require approval by SQA.

• For managers, the eLearning HWB related content for the Sergeant’s diploma has been reviewed and requires SQA approval to make major changes.

• New HWB content earmarked for the newly promoted Chief Supt and Supt learning programme was piloted with c. 40 civilian investigators in early January 2025. Plans for evaluation are being developed with leadership and talent colleagues.