THE NUMBER of Scottish Government staff off sick due to mental health has risen each of the last five years.
In 2019, the number of directly employed Scottish Government staff who were absent due to mental illness at least once was 611 – more than double the number who took leave for the same reason in 2015 at 274. The number of staff absent has increased each of the last five years, as has the percentage of staff who were ill due to mental health.
In 2019, 185 Scottish Government staff members took long-term sick leave due to mental health with the maximum length of absence for one worker at 224 days.
READ MORE: "Epidemic" warning as Scottish child mental health waiting time targets missed
Conservatives have called for more support to be offered to staff.
Scottish Tory health spokesperson, Miles Briggs, said: “It's very concerning that the number of staff who have gone on sick leave with a mental health related condition has doubled in the last five years.
“Mental health is beginning to be acknowledged to be just as important as physical health and it is vital the Scottish Government Employees are given the support they need in the workplace."
“SNP Ministers are in charge of the Scottish Government and they must take responsibility for the mental health of their employees and take actions to improve mental health support for staff.”
The headcount, percentage of the workforce and the number of workers off long-term due to mental illness have all increased.
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, Alex Cole-Hamilton, said: “The number of Scottish Government staff off sick with mental health has skyrocketed. It’s quite clear the civil service is under strain.
“Scottish Liberal Democrats have consistently asked the government to break the cycle of years of under-investment in mental health and deliver a step change in the way we treat it, but we are still a long way off the required transformation.
“It’s no surprise to see the Scottish Government face the same pressures as the police workforce and NHS staff because of tight budgets. Ministers must consider how best to reduce the burden on over-pressured staff and ensure they have speedy access to help when they need it.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Supporting employees to have good mental health is a priority for the Scottish Government. We have a range of wellbeing and staff support measures to help colleagues maintain their mental health, and also to provide support during periods of illness."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article