Exclusive: FoI request reveals Home Office paid £133,000 to charity for support for frontline staff amid surge in agency’s absences
The Home Office spent a six-figure sum on mental health support for frontline Border Force officers after mental health-related absences for staff across the agency increased by 45% as deaths in the Channel rose, a freedom of information request has revealed.
Border Force staff were off on average for more than two days a year for reasons related to mental health between the springs of 2021 and 2023, the figures show, up from 1.4 days between spring 2020 and 2021.
