New report reveals $1.75bn paid in compensation to NSW Police officers suffering psychological injuries
The NSW Auditor-General has revealed NSW Police officers suffering psychological injuries received $1.75bn in compensation payments between 2019 and 2024.
A new report titled The Mental Health and Wellbeing of NSW Police released by the Auditor-General's office examined whether the force had effectively managed the psychological wellbeing of its workforce.
It found the number of psychological injury claims, compensation payments and medical exits from the police force escalated in five years from 2019.
There were more than 1200 psychological injury claims from NSW Police officers in 2023-24, and of those who left the force, more than half cited medical reasons.
Psychological injuries were the most common, accounting for 769 officers leaving in 2023-24.
Mental stress, exposure to workplace violence and work pressure were the main reasons for quitting.
In February last year, 1261 officers were on long-term sick leave with active workers compensation claims for a psychological injury, which 536 employees attributed to post-traumatic stress disorder.
The NSW Police Force is Australia's largest law enforcement agency, with more than 16,200 sworn officers and 4294 civilian officers serving 8.5 million people.
Like other NSW public sector departments, the number of police psychological injury claims had been increasing until a significant investment in October last year of tens of millions of dollars to better support police.
But the Auditor-General found that while the NSW Police Force monitored psychological injuries, it had not analysed the root cause to effectively prevent future harm in its workforce.
The Auditor-General found that improved risk reporting had not been implemented and initiatives to improve wellbeing within the workforce had been done without proper analysis of the cause of psychological injuries.
'The new initiatives provide counselling and support for police after traumatic incidents but do not address other psychological risk factors such as role overload, fatigue or burnout,' the report stated.
'There has been limited evaluation of initiative outcomes to date, and their effectiveness has not been determined.
'In the absence of data about the causes of psychological injury, or evaluations of wellbeing services, the NSW Police Force was unable to demonstrate the efficiency or effectiveness of its wellbeing investment.'
Recommendations were made for police to allocate officers that matched workloads in command areas and to implement systems to better understand factors that led to psychological injury claims.
A NSW Police spokesman told NewsWire that policing was a challenging and rewarding job that exposed officers to traumatic incidents.
'The psychological wellbeing of our people is vitally important, and we will continue to improve the support programs at all levels that enable our officers to do the job that they love,' the spokesman said.
'We welcome the report and the work of the Audit Office of NSW, and it is important that we acknowledge the challenges and opportunities recognised in the report.
'We are well on the way to doing better and have made significant improvements over the past three years to improve our awareness, training, education and support of all our people.'
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It was open to officers who have worked for more than 10 years and the average payout was $203,600. But the auditor's report found no evidence the $138 million scheme had resulted in the departures of police who were not fit or were unsuited to their roles. Instead of reducing medical separations for psychological reasons after its implementation, they continued to rise. "Ultimately, it resulted in a financial burden on the NSW Police Force budget, in conjunction with a reduction in police numbers at a time when there were emerging workforce shortages," the report read. "The Scheme contributed in part to the current scale of the workforce shortage problem ... (it) is an example of an initiative that was not matched to workforce risks." A lack of understanding about the causes of psychological stress among police was stopping preventative measures being brought in, the report found. 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A police spokeswoman said the force had made significant inroads in the past three years to improve awareness, training, education and support. The auditor-general did note a reduction in psychological injury notifications since October 2024. "Policing is a challenging and rewarding job and, at times, officers are exposed to traumatic incidents," the NSW Police spokeswoman said. "The psychological well-being of our people is vitally important, and we will continue to improve the support programs at all levels that enable our officers to do the job that they love." A number of the suggested improvements made by the report were already underway, she said. An early retirement scheme designed for disengaged police has not cut medical exits and might have contributed to a staffing hole within the force. The NSW Auditor-General released a report into the mental health and wellbeing of the state's police, finding increasing psychological injury claims, compensation payouts and medical exits. Compensation claims totalled about $1.75 billion between 2019 and 2024, increasing at nearly 50 per cent year-on-year throughout that period. A 'golden handshake' scheme - the Optional Disengagement Scheme - which was established in 2022 prompted 679 police to exit the force, with a lumpsum of up to 133 weeks' pay. It was open to officers who have worked for more than 10 years and the average payout was $203,600. But the auditor's report found no evidence the $138 million scheme had resulted in the departures of police who were not fit or were unsuited to their roles. Instead of reducing medical separations for psychological reasons after its implementation, they continued to rise. "Ultimately, it resulted in a financial burden on the NSW Police Force budget, in conjunction with a reduction in police numbers at a time when there were emerging workforce shortages," the report read. "The Scheme contributed in part to the current scale of the workforce shortage problem ... (it) is an example of an initiative that was not matched to workforce risks." A lack of understanding about the causes of psychological stress among police was stopping preventative measures being brought in, the report found. Among four recommendations, the report says the force should investigate the causes of overload and burnout and adjust their policies and practices accordingly. The report follows years of recruitment and retention issues throughout the force, culminating in pay structures being overhauled in November at a cost of $700 million over four years. The report found 20 per cent of the workforce was unavailable for duty in June 2024 owing to mass vacancies and long-term sick leave. Psychological claims rose from 790 in 2019/20 to 1208 in 2023/24. Of police leaving the force, half do so for medical reasons and 93 per cent of those are for psychological reasons. 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