Nuclear police costs rise as stress cases nearly double

Operating expenditure at the Civil Nuclear Police Authority rose by almost £25 million during 2025-26, while reported workplace stress cases increased by 86% during a year of expansion, site closures and organisational change.

Operating expenditure at the Civil Nuclear Police Authority increased to £178.7 million during 2025-26, while reported workplace stress cases rose from 29 to 54, the UK Defence Journal understands.

The figures are contained in the CNPA’s Annual Report and Accounts, covering a year in which the Civil Nuclear Constabulary expanded its armed protection role to four non-nuclear energy sites while also managing the cessation of policing at older nuclear facilities. Total operating expenditure increased from £154.1 million in 2024-25 to £178.7 million, a rise of approximately £24.6 million or 16%. The Authority says £19.7 million of additional pay costs reflected the full-year effect of previous pay awards, higher employer pension and National Insurance contributions, and the transfer of Ministry of Defence Police personnel into the CNC as responsibility for the four additional sites changed hands.

Staff costs reached £131.1 million, compared with £111.3 million a year earlier, including £99.2 million in wages and salaries, £14 million in social security costs and £17.3 million in pension costs. Despite the increase in overall expenditure, the Authority spent less than had originally been approved for the year. Pay costs were below forecast because of vacancies and fewer new officers entering training than expected, while delayed project activity and lower-than-anticipated property maintenance costs also produced underspends. The CNPA said its standard operational activities achieved a breakeven position, although the accounts recorded £6 million more expenditure than income overall, mainly because of technical accounting adjustments and non-operational costs reimbursed by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Fifty-four workplace stress cases were reported during 2025-26, compared with 29 the previous year, an increase of 86%. Stress accounted for 21% of reported health and safety incidents. The CNPA says the increase partly reflects more systematic reporting, with its time-recording system checked daily and managers asked to submit a health and safety report where an employee is recorded as absent because of work-related stress. Twelve of the 54 cases were directly linked to the cessation of policing at Hunterston B and Hinkley Point B, or the relocation of Corporate Learning and Development functions to the firearms training facility at Bisley. The organisation said stress risk assessments and support measures had been introduced in anticipation of some of those changes.

Reported injuries also increased from 97 to 119, a rise of 22.6%. Sixty-three per cent occurred within the Training Division, with the Authority saying a large number were associated with the dynamic and realistic training undertaken by officers. Fifteen incidents were reportable under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations, compared with ten the previous year. Fourteen involved more than seven days of lost working time and one was recorded as a serious near miss. The CNPA said investigations found no common pattern or trend, with the incidents occurring at different locations and in different circumstances.

The report also records two personal data breaches that were reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office during the year. One concerned the sharing of employee payslips and was closed with no further action, while the second remained under investigation by the ICO when the report was prepared. The Authority said all breaches and incidents were managed through its internal processes and that it continued to record lower-level incidents and near misses for organisational learning.

Other workforce indicators moved in a more favourable direction. Police officer attrition fell from 9% to 7%, while police staff attrition also stood at 7%. Police staff headcount increased from 357 to 382 and the number of staff leaving fell from 39 to 28. The CNC maintained its deployability target of at least 90% throughout the year, while more than 80% of personnel on its Initial Foundation Programme passed to become newly qualified Authorised Firearms Officers.

Chief Constable Simon Chesterman said, as quoted in a news update: “I am immensely proud of what we achieved in the past year. Officers and staff contributed to our successful delivery of the core mission, the protection of our sensitive civil nuclear sites and material.” He added: “We also demonstrated our ability to expand our protective services to new areas of critical national infrastructure, and to continue to support national policing needs.”

The Authority has approved a £194.5 million revenue budget for 2026-27 alongside £14.1 million in capital expenditure. The report identifies inflation, national pay negotiations and supply-chain costs as continuing pressures, while changes across the nuclear estate create a separate workforce challenge because recruiting, vetting and training new firearms officers involves substantial lead times. The CNC says it is developing retention measures as existing sites cease operations and personnel are increasingly required across new nuclear facilities and other areas of critical national infrastructure.