THE number of police officers going on sick leave because of stress and anxiety has risen by a quarter since the creation of the unified Police Scotland force.
Figures show that in 2012-13 there were 356 officers off due to the conditions. This rose to 449 in 2013-14, an increase of more than 26 per cent.
Taken together, it adds up to an average of almost 50,000 workdays lost to ill-health brought about by anxiety in the workplace.
Scottish Conservative justice spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell said that the merger of Scotland's regional forces had been "mismanaged" and had led to high levels of stress for serving officers.
She said: "The mismanaged creation of Police Scotland saw a huge reduction in civilian staff, putting more pressure on officers who have to take up the slack, which may be fuelling the problem.
"Police Scotland should look at the decisions it has made and examine the pressure those decisions have put its staff under."
A Police Scotland spokesman said: "We provide a range of services to help officers and staff. These include specialist counselling.
"We take the safety and mental health and physical well-being of our officers and staff extremely seriously and have employee support services they can use."
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