Who Is Eligible?
You will have seen these points made in each of the listings within financial support.
You may be eligible for support if you are:
- A serving member of UK policing – you if you are currently employed or volunteering in a policing role, including police officers, police staff, special constables, cadets and volunteers in any other roles
- A veteran of UK policing – you if you have previously worked in a policing role, whether retired, medically retired, or having left the service for any reason
- A family member or dependant – this includes you if you are a spouse, partner, child, step-child, grandchild, or anyone financially dependent on, or living in the same household as someone who has been harmed through their policing role.
Which Forces We Support
We support you if you have worked in any UK police force, including:
- British Transport Police
- Civil Nuclear Constabulary
- National Crime Agency
- Ministry of Defence Police
- Police Forces across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
We also support you if you have worked in UK policing and now live overseas.
However, we are not able to support you if your experience is only from overseas territories, including the Isle of Man and Channel Islands.
For therapy support: we’re not able to provide therapy while you are living abroad, and you’ll need access to a UK registered GP.
What Is Harm Caused by Policing?
You’ll notice that we often refer to “harm caused by policing” in our communications. This reflects the heart of our charitable purpose.
We are here to support you if you’ve experienced harm through your policing role that is now affecting your day-to-day life.
Harm caused by policing can include physical injury and/or psychological trauma from incidents such as:
- Incidents involving children (including but not exclusive to fatalities, abuse or exploitation)
- Sudden or unnatural death (including but not exclusive to unexplained occurrences, murder or suicide)
- Road traffic collisions or rail incidents
- Dead bodies (seeing or working with cases)
- Serious injury or physical assault to yourself
- Major incidents (including but not exclusive to terrorism or transport disasters)
- Supporting families (including but not exclusive to delivery of death messages, family liaison roles)
- Incidents involving weapons
- Incidents involving fire or explosions
- Exposure to toxic or infectious diseases
- Vicarious or secondary trauma (as a result of reviewing evidence, CCTV, images, files, etc. or as a family member through your policing loved one)
Time and Duration of Impact
For serving staff and volunteers: there is no time limit on when incidents may affect you, and you may be continually exposed to difficult incidents throughout your career.
For veterans: if you’ve left the service, the effects can stay with you into retirement, especially if they haven’t been treated. There is no time limit on when you can come forward for support linked to your time in policing.
For families: if you are supporting someone you love who has been harmed through policing, we recognise how difficult this can be. We know children of police can experience higher levels of anxiety, and partners may develop secondary trauma and/or mental health concerns as a result of what you’ve been living with together.
Support we’re not able to provide
We’re not able to support organisational or occupational factors that could be considered harm caused at work.
Organisational or occupational factors relate to the wider working environment you may experience in policing, which can lead to work-related stress. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Too many or conflicting demands / heavy workload
- Poor working conditions
- Little control over how and when work is done, or decision-making
- Bullying and conflict at work that is not related to harm caused by policing (for example, difficult relationships caused by untreated trauma)
- Not having enough training or skills to deliver a role or task
- Feeling unclear about your role and/or responsibilities
- Low trust and not feeling confident or able to speak up about concerns
- Operational/organisational changes within your Force
What We Offer
We offer a range of support to help you recover, rebuild, and move forward in your own way:
1) Psychological Therapies Services
Evidence-based therapy for you if you are affected by trauma or mental health challenges linked to policing, including:
- Trauma Therapy – specialist support for PTSD or C-PTSD symptoms caused by traumatic policing incidents
- Evidence-Based Therapy – support for anxiety, depression, OCD, and other conditions linked to your policing experience
2) Financial Support
Financial grants once you have registered with us.
Grants include:
- Higher Education for your family members.
- Further Education for your family members.
- Dignity in Older Age
- Adaptations or equipment for physical injury
- Physical Health and fitness
- Career transition and retraining
- Family time
- Financial hardship
3) Ill-Health Retirement Support
Peer group support to help you through every stage of the Ill-health retirement process, including:
- Considering the Ill-health Retirement Journey – helping you understand what to expect
- Navigating the Ill-health Retirement Journey – for you if you are currently going through the process and need support and guidance
- Life after the police – for you if you have already gone through ill-health retirement and are thinking about what comes next
4) Support for Families
- Counselling – for you if you are over 18 and affected by harm to your policing loved one
- Children’s book – for children aged 3–7 who have a policing parent
5) Expert Webinars
You can access webinars led by experts on topics including legal advice, pensions, and more.
6) Directing you to other organisations that could help – Signposting
If we’re not the right service for you, we’ll help guide you towards one that is.
How to Access Support
You can access support by completing our referral form. We accept referrals from you directly, or on behalf of someone else as long as you have the consent of the person you are referring.
If you are referring someone else, please note we will contact them directly.
We’re independent
Often, people are not aware that we are an independent charity, separate from any police force or organisation. We know this independence matters to the people we support, and we want to be open about it here so that you feel confident and reassured when getting in touch with us.
We will never share your information with third parties without your consent, unless there is an urgent safeguarding concern.
