Extra funding to support officers and staff in wake of recent violent disorder

“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,” said Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Service.

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, teamed up with Oscar Kilo 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,” said Oscar Kilo.

The Blue Light Card Foundation and The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales have contributed to the fund, which will be split evenly across the three Police Treatment Centres.

This will help them to increase their capacity with more officers and staff expected to referred to them as a result of the events.

Andy Rhodes, service director of Oscar Kilo, 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, added: “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.”

The National Police Wellbeing Service has already been providing additional support to forces in response to the events in Southport and the subsequent disorder.