More than 56,000 people took part in this year’s National Police Workforce and Wellbeing Survey, giving policing a powerful evidence base about the experience of its workforce. The new report, How can we improve the wellbeing of our workforce?, goes beyond the headline results to explore what is driving some of the wellbeing challenges identified in the survey.
The findings are clear that wellbeing remains a significant challenge. More than half of respondents said they are often or always fatigued or physically exhausted by work, 45% find their work emotionally exhausting and 44% said they often or always feel burnt out because of their job.
But the value of this report is not simply in describing the problem. It helps us understand what sits behind it.
Workload stands out as the strongest driver
The analysis identifies workload pressure as the factor most strongly associated with wellbeing across the workforce. Facing unrealistic time pressures and finding it difficult to take enough breaks are particularly closely linked to poor wellbeing and exhaustion. Importantly, this pattern remains even among people who are highly engaged in their work or feel well supported by their line manager which is an important finding for policing.
Supporting individual wellbeing matters enormously, but these results reinforce that we cannot look at wellbeing only through the lens of individual resilience or support services. We also have to look at the day-to-day conditions in which people are working.
The challenge is particularly pronounced in some frontline areas. Incident response colleagues report significantly higher workload pressures and poorer wellbeing, while constables and sergeants also experience some of the highest levels of physical exhaustion and burnout.
This is about more than staffing numbers
The report also gives us a more nuanced picture of workload. People understandably identify insufficient capacity as a major source of pressure, particularly in teams experiencing the highest workloads. But the analysis suggests workload cannot be explained by capacity or external demand alone. Internal processes, duplication, bureaucracy, the way work is allocated and how competing demands are managed also play an important part.
Almost half of respondents identified issues with how demand is managed as contributing to workload pressure, while low-value work and unnecessary process were also prominent. The most commonly identified area for leadership improvement was leaders managing pressure rather than simply passing it down through the organisation.
For us, this is particularly important because it points towards things policing can influence.
Reducing pressure will not have one simple solution. In some areas it may mean addressing capacity. In others it may mean simplifying processes, removing duplication, being clearer about priorities or equipping managers to distribute work more effectively.
Different people may need different support
The report also shows why a single approach to workforce wellbeing will never be enough.
For some groups, lower wellbeing appears to be largely explained by workload. The modelling suggests, for example, that if workload pressure for incident response colleagues were brought closer to the workforce average, much of their wellbeing gap could also be reduced. For others – including colleagues with mental health conditions, people on limited duties and some younger colleagues – lower wellbeing is not fully explained by workload or the other organisational factors measured in the survey. That points to the continued importance of targeted support which responds to different circumstances and needs.
This reinforces something we have consistently said through Oscar Kilo: good workforce wellbeing requires both healthy working environments and the right support when people need it.
Turning insight into action
The purpose of the National Police Workforce and Wellbeing Survey has never been simply to produce another set of statistics. We want the evidence to help forces and national policing organisations make better decisions about where to focus effort and investment.
This first deep dive of the 2026 findings points to several practical areas for attention: reducing unnecessary workload and process, improving how demand is managed, strengthening manager capability, ensuring appropriate support for those with particular needs, and creating working environments where people have the time and support they need to do their jobs sustainably.
It also highlights the important role of day-to-day leadership. Supportive managers can help people manage pressure, recognise problems earlier, encourage healthier ways of working and create space for people to have an honest conversation about workload and wellbeing. But the report is equally clear that managers need the time, capability and organisational support to do that effectively.
That need to turn evidence into action was also a strong theme at this year’s National Police Wellbeing Service Annual Conference. Under the theme From Strategy to Reality, we brought together national policing leaders, force practitioners and partners to explore how strategy, evidence and national programmes translate into meaningful change for the people who work in policing. A consistent thread throughout the conference was the need to close the gap between what we know, what we put in place and what officers and staff actually experience in their working lives.
The findings in this deep dive give us another important part of that picture. They provide a stronger evidence base for conversations that cannot sit with wellbeing teams alone. Workload, demand, leadership, work design and organisational processes all cut across different parts of policing, which means improving wellbeing requires leaders and practitioners to work together, combining strategic direction with an understanding of what is happening day to day.
What comes next
This is the first in a series of three deep dives arising from the 2026 survey. Further reports will look at leadership and change and access to wellbeing support, allowing us to examine some of the other important themes from the national findings in more detail. We will also be sharing examples from forces that are achieving positive results or demonstrating significant improvement, alongside opportunities for forces to come together to explore the findings and share learning. The scale of the response to this year’s survey gives us an opportunity, and a responsibility, to listen carefully to what officers and staff have told us.
The findings are challenging in places, but they also give policing a clearer understanding of where change can make a difference. Our focus now is on helping turn that insight into practical action, nationally and locally.