Thousands of council staff in Tayside and Fife have been subjected to abuse and violence this year, new figures have revealed.
Verbal abuse, stalking and assault with a weapon made up just some of the incidents recorded by officials between January and October 2022.
The majority of attacks in Fife, Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross were physical, with more than 1,600 recorded in the kingdom during the first 10 months of the year alone.
Dundee City Council staff faced 750 incidents of physical violence while Perth and Kinross and Angus recorded 679 and 1,127, respectively.
The highest number of incidents affect education workers, including teachers and school support staff.
In Dundee, staff in schools reported 501 verbal and 570 physical incidents of abuse in academic year 2021/22.
Similar figures were reported in Angus, with 1,008 incidents reported by education staff overall.
Physical attacks on teachers
In Perth and Kinross, education and children’s services staff reported 546 incidents of verbal or physical violence.
A total of 1,469 instances of physical violence were recorded in Fife, alongside 348 verbal attacks.
Numbers for education staff are recorded by academic year, rather than annually.
The last four years have seen a slight decrease in incidents reported in Dundee, Perth and Angus, but Fife has recorded an increase.
Trade union leaders warn the true scale of the problem could be hidden, with many cases going unreported.
Unite regional officer Dougie Maguire says the figures are “shocking”.
Abuse figures ‘deeply alarming’
He told The Courier: “The scale of the assaults on council workers across Fife and Tayside, whether they be verbal or physical, is shocking and deeply alarming.
“However, it really only reflects some of the reality because our members are telling us that many assaults go unreported and that many consider it an occupational hazard which is unacceptable.”
The union wants to see public-facing council staff protected alongside emergency services workers, with a specific offence for assaulting them.
Mr Maguire added: “It is the only way to stamp out assaults on workers providing essential services to the public.”
Conversation