What Your Force
Should Provide
Some of what your force owes you on wellbeing is law, some is Home Office statutory guidance, and some is national good practice that forces sign up to. This guide separates the three, shows where each is written and gives you the questions to ask.
Independent information, not advice · Sources checked 30 September 2026 · England and Wales unless stated
By law, your force must assess health and safety risks including work-related stress and act on them, and make reasonable adjustments if you are disabled. Home Office guidance adds a line manager welfare role, a nominated welfare contact and a defined occupational health service. National frameworks and HMICFRS go further, but the detail, and how well it is delivered, varies by force.
We label each expectation as one of three kinds. Law: an Act or regulations, enforceable. Statutory guidance: Home Office guidance forces should follow, and which can be taken into account in proceedings. National good practice: frameworks, strategies and standards from Oscar Kilo, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) or HMICFRS that forces are expected to use, but which are not themselves law. This is information, not legal advice about your own situation.
The duty of care: what the law says
Police officers hold an office rather than a contract of employment, which sometimes leads people to think employment protections do not apply. For health and safety they do.
- Section 51A of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 says a person holding the office of constable otherwise than under a contract of employment is treated as an employee of the "relevant officer", which for a member of a police force is the chief officer of police. The chief officer is treated as a corporation sole.
- Section 2 then applies: it is the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all employees. That includes safe systems of work, the information, instruction, training and supervision needed, and a working environment that is safe, without risks to health and adequate for welfare.
- Section 7 places duties on you too: to take reasonable care for your own health and safety and that of others affected by what you do, and to co-operate with your employer so it can meet its duties.
Home Office statutory guidance puts the same point in policing terms: it is the responsibility of chief constables to manage the welfare of officers and staff throughout their careers, including during any investigation, performance concerns and misconduct proceedings, and police and crime commissioners hold them to account for it (paragraph 5.51).
"So far as is reasonably practicable" means the duty is not absolute: it involves weighing risk against the cost and effort of controlling it. Policing is inherently risky and the law does not require forces to remove every risk. It does require them to assess the risks and take reasonable steps.
Stress risk assessment and the HSE Management Standards
Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires every employer to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of employees while at work. It must be reviewed if there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid or there has been a significant change, and an employer with five or more employees must record the significant findings and any group identified as especially at risk.
HSE's guidance applies this to stress directly: employers have a legal duty to protect workers from stress at work by doing a risk assessment and acting on it. HSE's Management Standards are its recommended way of doing that. They look at six areas of work design:
HSE says the Management Standards are not mandatory, but that following them properly is considered a suitable and sufficient approach. Home Office guidance adds that where a force is required to carry out a risk assessment, officers can be required to co-operate with occupational health or health and safety advisers as part of it (paragraph 19.37).
- The current stress risk assessment covering your role, team or unit, and when it was last reviewed.
- A review of it if something significant has changed: a restructure, a new shift pattern, a sustained rise in demand.
- An individual conversation about what is causing you strain, using the six areas as a structure.
The Equality Act 2010: reasonable adjustments
Section 42 of the Equality Act 2010 treats holding the office of constable as employment by the chief officer (and by the responsible authority for its own acts) for the work provisions of the Act. So the protections against discrimination at work apply to officers.
A mental health condition can be a disability. Section 6 defines disability as a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Where that applies, section 20 imposes a duty to make reasonable adjustments, made up of three requirements: to take reasonable steps to avoid a substantial disadvantage caused by a provision, criterion or practice; by a physical feature; or by the lack of an auxiliary aid. The disabled person cannot be required to pay for it.
Examples people often ask about include changes to hours or shift pattern, a temporary move away from certain duties, a phased return and changes to how attendance triggers are applied. Whether any of these is reasonable in your case depends on the facts; we do not say any specific adjustment must be made. Restricted and adjusted duties are covered in restricted duties explained, and what happens to what you tell OH in telling occupational health about your mental health.
What Home Office statutory guidance expects
The Home Office's statutory guidance on professional standards, performance and integrity (version 1.0, published 5 February 2020, and still the version on GOV.UK on 30 September 2026) contains a chapter on welfare and one on attendance management. Parts of the guidance on performance procedures predate the 2025 changes to the Performance Regulations, so check the current regulations for anything procedural. The welfare expectations below are what it says forces should do.
- Support systems. Systems should be in place in all forces to support officers under stress or with problems that might lead to performance or conduct matters (5.52).
- A welfare contact. Anyone with welfare concerns should be able to contact their line manager, HR, occupational health or a nominated welfare contact (5.52).
- A written line manager role. Including monitoring workloads so people are not overloaded and being vigilant and offering additional support to people experiencing stress (5.53).
- HR support and referral. HR should support managers and individuals and encourage referral to OH or employee assistance providers where appropriate (5.54).
- Signposting. The guidance lists staff associations (and UNISON for police staff), employee assistance programmes, police charities, GP and NHS services and Oscar Kilo (5.57 onwards).
- An attendance policy. Clear, published, with defined roles for managers, HR, OH and medical advisers, owned at chief officer level, consulted on and equality impact assessed, and linked to workplace stress and Fairness at Work policies (19.3 to 19.5).
- Contact while you are off. Locally published arrangements, a nominated person, a contact log, and sensitivity to your preferences; in rare cases a contact outside the line management chain, for example where absence is due to management issues (19.11 to 19.14).
- A defined OH service. Forces and policing bodies should resource a defined level of OH service, tell officers what it offers, and make sure managers understand OH confidentiality (19.7, 19.36 to 19.38).
- Phased return. Managers, with OH, should tell treating doctors that return can be phased, and ensure a risk assessment is done (19.15).
The guidance also records that in 2018 the Government set a common goal for police wellbeing, and lists steps forces should take: a culture focused on prevention, early intervention and support; consistent, evidence-based standards; early diagnosis and signposting including through OH and line management; signposting to police charities; and sharing good practice (5.49 and 5.50).
The Police Covenant
Section 1 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 requires the Home Secretary, in each financial year, to prepare a police covenant report and lay it before Parliament. The report covers the health and well-being of current and former members of the police workforce, their physical protection, support for their families, and anything else the Home Secretary considers appropriate, so far as it relates to their police service. In preparing it, the Home Secretary must have regard to the obligations and sacrifices of the workforce and to the principle that it is desirable to remove disadvantage arising from that service.
The Act's definition of the police workforce is wide: it includes regular officers, special constables, police staff, volunteers and several non-Home Office forces.
The Covenant creates a duty to report to Parliament, not an individual right. You cannot rely on it to force your force to provide a particular service. It is useful in a different way: the annual reports record what has been promised and delivered nationally, which you can quote when asking your force what it is doing.
The most recent report we read, the Police Covenant annual report 2025 (published February 2026), records among other things: foundation occupational health standards set and monitored, with some forces achieving enhanced standards and most working towards them; an all-force annual self-assessment against the National Suicide Action Plan from May 2025; a refreshed national workforce survey launched in May 2025; and a planned national rollout of the mental health crisis line to families and leavers. HMICFRS commented in 2025 that progress against Covenant actions had not yet shown that it was improving the well-being of the workforce.
National frameworks: Oscar Kilo, the NPCC and the College
Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Service, sits within the College of Policing and produces most of the national wellbeing standards forces work to.
- The Blue Light Wellbeing Framework. A set of wellbeing standards tailored to emergency services, developed as part of the Oscar Kilo project launched in 2017 and funded by Public Health England. Forces self-assess against it and can request a peer review. HMICFRS recommended in 2025 that all forces audit and benchmark themselves against it. Oscar Kilo's framework page blocked our checks, so we describe it from the NFCC and a published police audit.
- The National Police Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2024 to 2026. Developed by the Chief Medical Officer for Policing and the National Police Wellbeing Service, organised around join well, train well, work well, live well and leave well. Oscar Kilo says each force uses it to create its own local wellbeing plan.
- Occupational health standards. Foundation standards covering business probity, information governance, people, facilities and equipment, and relationships with the organisation and with workers, then enhanced and advanced standards. Forces self-assess; Oscar Kilo says results will not be published and there will be no league table.
- Psychological and trauma risk management. The national HEART guidance, which Oscar Kilo says replaced earlier STRICT guidance, sets a system-wide approach to trauma exposure and recovery. See post-incident support and TRiM.
- The National Suicide Action Plan for Policing. Produced by the National Police Wellbeing Service and endorsed by the NPCC, the Police Federation, the Police Superintendents' Association and UNISON. Oscar Kilo says it aims to educate and support the workforce, reduce stress and improve data recording. Oscar Kilo also publishes a suicide postvention toolkit for forces supporting staff after a colleague has died by suicide.
We looked for separate College of Policing authorised professional practice on workforce wellbeing and did not find one beyond the Oscar Kilo material; Home Office guidance refers to College guidance on high-risk roles, trauma management and post-incident procedures.
What HMICFRS has found
HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services reports each year on the state of policing. We quote only what we read in the two most recent reports.
Survey figures describe the people who responded, not every officer or member of staff, and HMICFRS says 33 forces took part in 2026, so not every force's workforce is represented. HMICFRS's PEEL inspections grade each force on how it attracts, develops and retains its workforce; to see what was found about your own force, read its latest PEEL report on the HMICFRS website. We do not summarise individual forces here.
What good looks like: expectations and where they are written
Use this table to turn general expectations into specific requests. The last column tells you what to quote.
| Area | What a force is expected to do | What you can ask for | Where it is written |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stress and psychological risk | Assess the risks to health, including work-related stress, act on the findings and write down the significant findings (5 or more workers). Review when things change. | The stress risk assessment for your role or team; an individual assessment if your circumstances changed; what actions followed. | HSWA 1974 s2 and s51A; Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 reg 3; HSE stress guidance |
| Reasonable adjustments | Where you are disabled within the Equality Act, take reasonable steps to avoid substantial disadvantage from a provision, criterion or practice, a physical feature, or a lack of an auxiliary aid. | Specific adjustments (hours, duties, shift pattern, equipment), agreed in writing and reviewed. | Equality Act 2010 ss6, 20 and 42 |
| Line manager's welfare role | Forces should set out the line manager's role, including monitoring workloads, being vigilant and offering additional support to people experiencing stress. | A workload conversation; what your force's written line manager role says. | Home Office statutory guidance, para 5.53 |
| Welfare during an investigation | Chief constables' duty of care continues through investigations, performance concerns and misconduct proceedings. People should be able to contact their line manager, HR, OH or a nominated welfare contact. | The name of your welfare contact; how contact will be kept if you are suspended or moved. | Home Office statutory guidance, paras 5.51 and 5.52 |
| Contact during sickness absence | Clear, locally published contact arrangements with a nominated person and contact log; sensitivity to your preferences; in rare cases a contact outside your line management chain. | How often and by what means you are contacted; a different contact if the absence relates to management issues. | Home Office statutory guidance, paras 19.11 to 19.14 |
| Occupational health | A defined level of OH service, with the role and range of services clearly defined for all officers; managers clear about OH confidentiality. | Your force's written description of OH services; whether you can self-refer; waiting times. | Home Office statutory guidance, paras 19.7(f), 19.36 to 19.38; foundation OH standards (Oscar Kilo) |
| Return to work | Managers, with OH, should make treating doctors aware that return can be phased, and ensure a risk assessment is done. | A phased return plan and the risk assessment behind it. | Home Office statutory guidance, para 19.15 |
| Attendance policy | A clear, published policy with roles defined, owned at chief officer level, consulted on with staff associations and OH, reviewed regularly with an equality impact assessment. | A copy of the current attendance management policy and any workplace stress policy. | Home Office statutory guidance, paras 19.3 to 19.5 |
| Benchmarking wellbeing provision | HMICFRS said all forces should audit and benchmark themselves against the Blue Light Wellbeing Framework and that the offer should meet a common minimum standard. | Whether your force has done the self-assessment and what it found. | HMICFRS, State of Policing 2024 to 2025 |
| Understanding workforce wellbeing | HMICFRS said forces must carry out work to understand wellbeing needs and encouraged all forces to take part in the national survey. | Whether your force took part in the 2026 National Police Workforce and Wellbeing Survey and what it did with the results. | HMICFRS, State of Policing 2025 to 2026 |
| Suicide prevention | The National Suicide Action Plan for Policing; the Covenant report says an annual all-force self-assessment against it has run since May 2025. | What your force's suicide prevention and postvention arrangements are. | Oscar Kilo; Police Covenant annual report 2025 |
What forces differ on: the honest section
National standards set a direction; delivery is local. HMICFRS has repeatedly found provision inconsistent. These are the things most likely to differ between forces, and between departments within a force:
- Occupational health capacity and access. Waiting times, whether you can self-refer, and whether psychological therapy is provided in house, bought in or not offered.
- Employee assistance programmes. Provider, hours, number of counselling sessions and whether family members can use it.
- Peer support and TRiM. Oscar Kilo says not every force has a peer support team. How TRiM is triggered and followed up is set locally.
- Welfare contacts during investigations and suspension. Who acts as your contact and how often contact is kept.
- Discretion over sick pay. Annex K to the Police Regulations 2003 gives the chief officer discretion to extend full or half pay in a particular case. How forces use it is set by local procedure.
- Progress against national standards. Where a force sits on the OH standards, the Blue Light Wellbeing Framework and the suicide action plan self-assessment. OH standard results are not published.
- Participation in the national survey. 33 forces took part in 2026.
None of this tells you whether your force is good or bad. It tells you which questions will reveal the answer.
How to raise concerns about wellbeing support
- Your line manager, or another supervisor. Home Office guidance gives line managers a welfare role. If the concern is about your manager, go to the next level or HR; the guidance recognises that a contact outside your line management chain may be appropriate.
- Occupational health. If your health is affected, OH can advise on adjustments and fitness. See the OH process.
- Your Federation rep, staff association or union. They know local policy and can attend meetings with you. See the Police Federation explained.
- Your force's grievance or resolution policy. Home Office guidance refers to Fairness at Work policies. The name and process vary by force; ask HR or your rep for the current version.
- Health and safety routes. Your force's health and safety function, and Federation health and safety representatives (section 51A treats the Federation as a recognised trade union for health and safety representation).
- Legal claims. Discrimination complaints under the Equality Act go to an employment tribunal. Section 123 currently sets three months from the act complained of, subject to early conciliation and the tribunal's discretion; law firm summaries say this becomes six months for acts on or after 1 October 2026 under the Employment Rights Act 2025. Take advice early from your rep or a solicitor.
The duty of care continues. Home Office guidance says people under investigation can feel isolated and should be able to reach a welfare contact. See police officer under investigation: your rights and suspension and restricted duties.
A checklist for asking your force about its wellbeing offer
You can ask these as an individual, through your rep, or as a team. Ask for documents rather than reassurances.
- The current attendance management policy.
- The workplace stress policy, if separate.
- The grievance or Fairness at Work policy.
- The force's local wellbeing plan or strategy.
- The stress risk assessment for my role or team.
- When it was last reviewed and what changed.
- What actions came out of it.
- What OH offers, in writing.
- Can I self-refer, and how long is the wait?
- Is psychological therapy available, and from whom?
- What goes into a management report?
- Who is our EAP provider, and what does it cover?
- Is there a peer support team, and how do I reach it?
- How is TRiM or post-incident support triggered?
- Who is my nominated welfare contact?
- Has the force self-assessed against the Blue Light Wellbeing Framework?
- Where is it against the OH standards?
- Did it take part in the 2026 national survey, and what did it do next?
- Who will contact me, how often and how?
- Can that be someone outside my line management?
- How will a phased return be planned?
What people get wrong
- "Officers are not employees, so health and safety law does not apply." Section 51A of the 1974 Act treats constables as employees of the chief officer for health and safety.
- "The Police Covenant gives me a right to support." It creates an annual reporting duty on the Home Secretary, not an enforceable individual right.
- "The HSE Management Standards are compulsory." The duty to assess stress risk is legal; the Management Standards are HSE's recommended method, not a legal requirement.
- "Wellbeing is the individual's job." Both are true: section 7 gives you duties, but the section 2 duty sits with the chief officer.
- "Every force has the same offer." HMICFRS has found provision inconsistent.
- "Reasonable adjustments only apply to physical disabilities." Section 6 covers physical or mental impairments that meet the definition.
What we could not verify
- The Blue Light Wellbeing Framework's current text and sections. Oscar Kilo's framework page blocked our checks; we describe it from the NFCC and a published audit.
- College of Policing wellbeing guidance. We found no separate APP on workforce wellbeing beyond Oscar Kilo material, and did not read the College's post-incident APP for this page.
- The employment tribunal time limit change. legislation.gov.uk showed the Employment Rights Act 2025 change to section 123 as not yet applied; the 1 October 2026 date comes from law firm summaries. Check before relying on it.
- Any individual force's wellbeing performance. We have not assessed any force and do not rank them.
- Whether an updated Home Office statutory guidance has been published elsewhere. The GOV.UK page listed only version 1.0 (February 2020) on 30 September 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my police force owe me a duty of care for my wellbeing?
Yes. Section 51A of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 treats a police officer as an employee of the chief officer for health and safety purposes, so the section 2 duty to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of employees applies. Home Office statutory guidance also says chief constables are responsible for officers' and staff welfare throughout their careers, including during investigations and misconduct proceedings.
Does my force have to do a stress risk assessment?
Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires a suitable and sufficient assessment of risks to health and safety, and HSE says employers have a legal duty to protect workers from stress at work by doing a risk assessment and acting on it. With five or more workers, the significant findings must be written down. HSE's Management Standards are one recognised way to do it but are not themselves mandatory.
What are the HSE Management Standards for stress?
Six areas of work design that HSE says can lead to stress if not properly managed: demands, control, support, relationships, role and change. HSE says following its Management Standards approach is considered suitable and sufficient for the risk assessment duty, but employers can use another approach.
Can I ask for reasonable adjustments for a mental health condition?
If your condition is a disability under section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 (a physical or mental impairment with a substantial and long-term adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities), the section 20 duty to make reasonable adjustments applies. Section 42 treats holding the office of constable as employment by the chief officer for this part of the Act. Whether a particular adjustment is reasonable depends on the facts.
What is the Police Covenant?
It is set out in section 1 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, which requires the Home Secretary to prepare and lay before Parliament an annual police covenant report on the health and wellbeing, physical protection and family support of current and former members of the police workforce. It creates a reporting duty, not an individual right you can enforce.
What is the Blue Light Wellbeing Framework?
A set of wellbeing standards tailored to emergency services, developed as part of the Oscar Kilo project launched in 2017 and funded by Public Health England. Forces use it to self-assess and can request a peer review. HMICFRS said in its 2024 to 2025 State of Policing that all forces should audit and benchmark themselves against it. We found no law requiring its use.
What has HMICFRS said about police wellbeing?
In State of Policing 2024 to 2025, HMICFRS said well-being support is improving but provision is inconsistent between forces, and that all forces provide occupational health but demand often exceeds budgets. In 2025 to 2026 it said too many officers and staff experience low morale and poor well-being, citing the 2026 national survey in which 45 percent of 55,602 respondents reported always or often feeling burnt out because of work.
What wellbeing support should my police force provide?
At minimum, what the law requires: a health and safety risk assessment covering stress, reasonable adjustments where you are disabled, and welfare arrangements. Home Office statutory guidance adds a written line manager welfare role, a nominated welfare contact, contact arrangements during absence and a defined occupational health service. National frameworks and HMICFRS set expectations beyond that, but the detail varies by force.
How do I complain if my force is not supporting my wellbeing?
Start with your line manager or a different supervisor, involve occupational health if health is affected, and speak to your Federation rep, staff association or union. If that does not resolve it, use your force's grievance or resolution policy. Discrimination claims go to an employment tribunal and have short time limits, so take advice early.
Is there a national police wellbeing strategy?
Yes. Oscar Kilo publishes a National Police Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2024 to 2026, developed by the Chief Medical Officer for Policing and the National Police Wellbeing Service, built around five stages: join well, train well, work well, live well and leave well. Oscar Kilo says each force uses it to create its own local wellbeing plan.
Are there national standards for police occupational health?
Yes. Oscar Kilo publishes foundation occupational health standards for police forces, and enhanced and advanced standards. It says forces self-assess against the foundation standards and that results will not be published. The Police Covenant annual report 2025 says most forces are working towards the enhanced standards.
Does the duty of care apply to police staff and special constables?
Police staff are employees, so the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Equality Act 2010 apply to them directly. Section 51A of the 1974 Act covers anyone holding the office of constable otherwise than under a contract of employment, which includes special constables. The Covenant's definition of the police workforce includes specials, staff and volunteers.
Sources and how we checked them
Every factual claim on this page was written from the sources below, read on 30 September 2026. Rules and figures change, so check the source for the date you are reading this. Where we could not confirm something from an official or independent source, the page says so rather than guessing. Spotted something out of date? See our corrections policy.
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2 (legislation.gov.uk) — employer's general duty to employees (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 51A — constables treated as employees of the chief officer (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 7 — employees' duty to take reasonable care and co-operate (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3 — risk assessment, review and recording (accessed 30 September 2026)
- HSE: stress risk assessment — legal duty to assess stress and act; write down with 5 or more workers (accessed 30 September 2026)
- HSE: what are the Management Standards? — six areas; not mandatory but a suitable and sufficient approach (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Equality Act 2010, sections 6, 20, 42 and 123 — disability definition (s6), duty to make adjustments (s20), constables treated as employed (s42), tribunal time limit (s123) (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, section 1 — police covenant report duty and definition of the police workforce (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Home Office: Police Covenant annual report 2025 — OH standards, suicide action plan self-assessment, crisis line, survey (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Home Office: statutory guidance on professional standards, performance and integrity (version 1.0, February 2020) — paras 5.48 to 5.57 (welfare, duty of care, line managers) and chapter 19 (attendance, OH) (accessed 30 September 2026)
- HMICFRS: State of Policing 2025 to 2026 (8 September 2026) — morale and well-being; 2026 national survey results; forces must understand well-being needs (accessed 30 September 2026)
- HMICFRS: State of Policing 2024 to 2025 — provision inconsistent; OH demand; benchmark against the Blue Light Wellbeing Framework; Covenant progress (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Oscar Kilo: National Police Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2024 to 2026 — five stages; forces create local plans (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Oscar Kilo: foundation occupational health standards — six areas; self-assessment; no league table (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Oscar Kilo: National Suicide Action Plan for Policing — aims; endorsed by NPCC, Federation, PSA and UNISON (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Oscar Kilo: psychological and trauma risk management — HEART guidance; Psychological Health Insight Tool (accessed 30 September 2026)
- NFCC: Oscar Kilo and the Blue Light Wellbeing Framework — funded by Public Health England; self-assessment and peer review (accessed 30 September 2026)
- North Yorkshire PFCC internal audit: wellbeing (2019/20) — framework developed as part of Oscar Kilo launched in 2017; independent standards to audit and benchmark against (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Police Federation (West Midlands): Annex K, regulation 28 sick pay — chief officer's discretion to extend sick pay (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Lewis Silkin: longer time limits for tribunal claims from October (24 September 2026) — six-month limit from 1 October 2026 under the Employment Rights Act 2025 (secondary source) (accessed 30 September 2026)
On this topic elsewhere
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Disclaimer
PolicePay.co.uk is an independent reference site. It is not a health, counselling or legal service, and this page is general information, not medical, psychological or legal advice. It cannot consider your personal circumstances. If you are struggling, speak to your GP, a qualified professional or one of the services listed on this page. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 999. Details apply to England and Wales unless stated. Details are as checked on 30 September 2026.