Senior officers have been warned not to ignore the welfare of investigators who are at breaking point.

A postcode lottery on pay, complicated caseloads and low morale are contributing to the investigator shortage, according to the people behind a new wellbeing programme.

Oscar Kilo, the police support initiative, has launched an online resource hub that provides resources on peer support, mental health, misconduct hearings and more.

It is aimed at improving the wellbeing of investigators and reduce the number of vacancies which stood at 22% at the last count.

The toolkit has been developed in a partnership including the College of Policing, Oscar Kilo, Police Federation, National Police Chiefs’ Council, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and force champions.

The launch came at the start of Investigator Wellbeing Week which was developed following the Durham University 2019 Wellbeing Survey, which found investigators experience the lowest levels of wellbeing across policing, and particularly suffer from a loss of emotional energy.

The job has a significant caseload, there are demands from the courts system and the lack of overtime means the job can pay less than a response officer.

Oscar Kilo warned if steps aren’t taken to help address wellbeing issues faced by detectives, the length of time officers stay in the role will decrease.

DCS Martin Brunning, who leads the National group, said: “If you get out of the bed with low emotional energy… then coming into a busy CID office with a full crime queue, the survey from Durham has shown you have a very short timespan before you need a medical intervention. The need for a toolkit in a busy CID enviro has never been more needed.”

The toolkit is aimed at line managers and leaders to give them the information they need to prevent overloaded officers from burning out.

Chief Constable Chris Rowley, NPCC Lead for Wellbeing and Engagement said: “The toolkit has a raft of interventions that have proven benefits and are graded to show ease of implementation, cost of implementation and effectiveness.

Interventions are categorised into Leadership, Personal Resilience, Protect and Prepare the Workforce, Creating the Environment and Mental Health.”

But the toolkit will only be effective if managers use it, the creators warned.

DCS Brunning who serves with Bedfordshire Police said: “There are people in crisis now. But I also know there are people out there who don’t want to acknowledge it; that say mental health isn’t a priority.

“The biggest factor is intelligent leadership at sergeant and inspector level. Most important is the people at the centre of it.”

The Police Federation is backing the week of events. Fed Chair John Apter was directly involved in the Operation Hampshire programme which has led to the Blue Light Framework – details will be shared in Friday’s event.

Welfare Secretary, Belinda Goodwin, told Police Oracle: “Wellbeing has got to be on all our minds. It’s not going to be a quick fix but, at last the conversations are being had.”