Sick days taken by West Midlands Police officers rose by more than 11,500 in 12 months, with the force’s federation blaming increasing stress.

The average officer was off for 10.7 days in 2014-15, up from 8.7 days in 2013-14. PCSOs’ average sickness dropped from 9.4 days to nine days.

It meant 77,817 days – equivalent to more than 213 years – were lost to officer sickness and 6,172 among PCSOs.

Reported by BBC News. You can read the full story here. 

I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.