When the Employer Becomes the Gatekeeper: Structural Failures in Police Mental Health Care
- Allister Rose
- Jul 14, 2025
- 4 min read
In New Zealand, most workers injured on the job are covered by the publicly administered Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC)—a no-fault insurance scheme designed to support rehabilitation and return to work. For physical injuries, this system generally operates well. But for mental injuries, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the experience can be vastly different, especially for police workers.
The New Zealand Police does not manage mental injury claims through the standard ACC system. Instead, it operates under the Accredited Employer Programme (AEP)—a scheme in which large employers, including the police service, take over ACC’s responsibilities. This means the employer decides who gets cover, what treatment is approved, and whether recovery is “sufficient” to return to duty.
While the AEP may appear efficient on paper, in practice, it creates a deep conflict of interest, particularly for those suffering mental harm as a direct result of organisational trauma, operational exposure, or workplace culture. A growing body of international evidence shows that systems where the employer controls the care pathway are not fit for purpose when it comes to psychological injury.
New Evidence: Comparative Failures in Employer-Led Models
A landmark study published in The Journal of Forensic Practice in May 2025 compared police mental health systems in New Zealand, Australia, and England and Wales. The study applied the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model to assess the causes and outcomes of PTSD among police officers, including systemic and organisational responses to mental harm (Beckley et al., 2025).
Key findings from the study include:
PTSD prevalence: 14% in New Zealand police, 11% in Australia, 20.6% in England and Wales.
Low programme participation: Just 16% of officers in England and Wales and 14.7% in New South Wales participated in employer-run well-being programmes, despite high need.
High trauma exposure: 69% of New Zealand officers had experienced traumatic incidents; many reported long-term psychological impacts.
Hazardous drinking in NZ police: An alarming 57% of officers self-reported hazardous alcohol use—a key indicator of unresolved mental health distress.
These statistics confirm what we hear regularly at the Blue Hope Foundation: police officers are suffering, but are not accessing help.
Australia and the UK: Systems That Mirror AEP's Weaknesses
The study also highlights similar employer-led systems in Australia and the UK, where mental injury support is mediated through workers’ compensation schemes (Australia) or internal occupational health units (UK). These models, like AEP, place organisational priorities ahead of clinical independence.
In New South Wales, for example, 1,646 sworn police officers were medically retired due to PTSD or other mental health conditions between 2012 and 2020. The report describes rising burnout, poor access to treatment, and organisational stigma as key drivers of these outcomes (Beckley et al., 2025, Table 1).
Likewise, in the UK, officers report high distress and fatigue levels, with little confidence in employer-managed support pathways. This mirrors the experience of New Zealand police workers navigating the AEP framework, where the employer holds gatekeeping authority over ACC decisions.
Structural Risks of Employer-Controlled Mental Health Support
When an employer both causes and controls the response to a psychological injury, the risks are systemic:
Conflict of interest: The same organisation responsible for operational trauma also controls access to care and compensation.
Suppression of reporting: Officers fear their careers will suffer if they seek mental health support.
Clinically inappropriate decision-making: Mental health assessments and treatment approvals are filtered through a risk-averse, HR-driven lens.
Erosion of trust: Officers disengage from internal supports due to past experiences of dismissal, denial, or surveillance.
These risks are not theoretical. They are happening now to mentally injured police workers in New Zealand, and the evidence confirms it is a pattern, not an anomaly.
A Human Rights Lens: CRPD and Systemic Reform
New Zealand is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which affirms the right to non-discriminatory access to rehabilitation, health services, and justice. When mental injury claims are assessed and administered by the employer, those rights are placed in jeopardy.
The Foundation believes that PTSD, particularly when caused by repeated exposure to trauma in the course of duty, must be treated as a disability with full human rights protections. The AEP model, as it is currently applied to mental injury, does not meet these obligations.
Recommendations for Change
The Blue Hope Foundation supports the following reforms to ensure fair and effective care for mentally injured police workers:
Independent clinical assessment and oversight for all psychological injury claims under AEP.
Clear separation of employment management from injury rehabilitation.
Formal recognition of PTSD as a disability under ACC legislation and employment law.
Audit and accountability for AEP mental health claims, including review of declined treatment and cover decisions.
Trauma-informed peer advocacy to support claimants navigating AEP and related processes.
These changes would align New Zealand’s mental injury care with both best practice and human rights standards.
Conclusion: The Cost of Inaction
The 2025 Beckley et al. study provides academic confirmation of what frontline officers and their families have long experienced. When the employer controls psychological injury support, the outcomes are worse for officers, for families, and for the communities they serve.
The Foundation’s vision of zero suicides in the New Zealand Police requires more than good intentions. It demands systemic reform. We must shift from employer gatekeeping to independent, trauma-informed, rights-based care pathways that protect those who protect us.
Reference:Beckley, A., Wang, J., Birch, P., & den Heyer, G. (2025). Mental health and well-being amongst police officers: a three-country comparison through the application of the jobs demand-resources model. The Journal of Forensic Practice. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFP-02-2025-0013