Scotland's prison staff taking more days off due to stress

Concerns are being raised over a jump in the number of sick days being taken by Scotland’s prison officers down to stress.

Figures released in a Freedom of Information request show the Scottish Prison Service lost nearly 8,000 working days between September 2016 and August this year. That’s compared to 6765 days lost in the previous twelve months.

While some SPS locations, including HMP Grampian has seen a drop in the number of days recorded with a sickness code of stress, others have seen a sizeable increase. The most notable increase is at HMP Glenochil, where 525 extra days were taken this year, compared to 2015.

The Prisoner Officers Association wants to get to the bottom of why so many sick days are being taken.

Andy Hogg is from the union:

"Do we have a stress problem within the organisation - in that we're seeing significant increase? Or is it in fact about support mechanisms - insofar as less staff are affected but they're off for longer periods of time. It certainly seems like there are hotspots within the organisation, but there are reduced stress levels in other areas.

“The very nature of the job is stressful. We're dealing with people who are primarily non-conformist, that's why they're there. So it's always a stressful and sometimes hostile environment, given the nature of the population at any given time.

"Staff generally have very good relationships with prisoners, but they still has a difficult and challenging day to day job to carry out."

SPS is defending the figures, saying there are actually fewer employees taking time off with stress – but there are more staff members taking long term sick leave for their mental health, resulting in an increase in the number of days lost.

Tom Fox, the organisation’s spokesman said:

“We take the issue of the wellbeing of our staff very seriously and a number of initiatives and schemes are there to support people.

"I think we’ve seen an increase in stress-related leave across the whole of industry. I also think it reflects the fact people feel more able to explain the reasons for their underlying health problems.”

HMP Addiewell and HMP Kilmarnock don’t feature in the data. This is because the establishments are privately operated.

“Open Estate” refers to Castle Huntly, the prison service open establishment near Perth.