Police forces lost more than one million days to long-term sick leave last year at a record cost of nearly £90 million, an investigation by The Times has found.

The cost has soared by more than 20 per cent in the past five years despite a drive within the police to reduce prolonged sick absences.

Freedom of information requests to the 43 forces in England and Wales revealed that stress, depression, back pain and other musculo-skeletal disorders are mainly responsible.

MPs and campaign groups said that the figures raised serious concerns over stress levels within the police force, the measures in place to tackle anxiety and the effectiveness of back-to-work plans.

Dominic Grieve, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: “These alarming figures betray not only how stressful a job our police do but sadly how the efforts to combat this have not been as effective as we would hope.

“Sickness and stress needs to be well managed, including managers ensuring that sick days are taken appropriately. The rewards if we get this right are significant, not only in terms of improving the wellbeing of our dedicated police officers and having more of them on duty, but also through the cost savings that can be translated into even more officers on the streets.”

Of the 40 forces that responded to The Times, North Yorkshire Police recorded one of the biggest increases in long-term sick leave costs, up from £677,456 in 2002-03 to more than £1.6 million in 2007-08. In Suffolk the cost spiralled from a little more than £80,000 five years ago to more than £750,000 last year.

Although the Metropolitan Police managed to cut its long-term sick bill by £3 million over five years, the force still incurred the largest costs last year, of £30 million. Merseyside Police also had a big bill, with a total expense of £3.25 million for 2007-08.

Five years ago the total annual cost of long-term sick leave to the police was £73 million. Constabularies define extended sick leave as any period exceeding 28 consecutive days.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “This is a huge financial and human loss for the police and taxpayers to bear. It’s clear that there is a serious failure to manage officers effectively to avoid damaging levels of stress, and a failure to support ill officers back into work.

“The model of running the nation’s policing off a spreadsheet in Whitehall is failing the police and the public. Central mismanagement has produced a system so tangled with red tape and targets that good officers are being driven into illness.”

The Times data show that the average level of long-term absence in the police is 8.3 days per employee per year, very close to the overall average of 8.4 days. The equivalent figure for combined short and long-term absence in the private sector is 7.2 and for the public sector 9.8.

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