POLICE officers in the Greater Manchester force, including the Bolton division, are off sick two weeks a year, according to the latest figures.

A report presented to the Police Authority's management and audit commission stated the average number of days absent this year per officer was 14.8, the fourth highest in the country.

During the last 12 months, the total number of working days lost due to sick leave in the Greater Manchester force rose to 101,464, compared with 95, 359 in 1999/00.

The survey also found the number of days lost due to long term sick leave stood at 74, 253, a rise of 7,231 on the previous 12 months.

Support staff are off sick an average of 15 days a year and a total of 48,840 days have been lost this year.

According to the report to the meeting yesterday, short term absences of less than eight days has reduced and forms a small per cent of total sickness.

The bulk falls within the long term absence and although the number of police officers on long term leave was continuing to fall, the number of sickness days across the force was still rising.

Greater Manchester has the second highest sick leave rate in the country but is also one of the biggest forces in the country.

The Metropolitan Police Force has the worst rate with a total of 278,933 working days lost and the average number of days absent per officer is 10.

In line with national trends, the largest single cause of sickness is accidents and injuries and this is also on the decrease.

Psychological illness is on the increase both for police officers and support staff.

It has overtaken backache as the most common cause of absence from work and accounts for a quarter of days lost.

An experienced consultant psychiatrist began in September and is holding regular sessions at the occupational health unit.

A total of 70-80 officers are expected to retire on medical grounds by the end of the year and although the figure is high, it is an improvement from the peak of 207 in 1996/97.