No excuse for abuse of staff says Council

With abusive behaviour towards staff working at High Peak Borough Council on the increase, Council leaders are warning they will take action against anyone who abuses employees.

Staff working in Council buildings and in customer-facing roles in the community have faced physical threats and aggression, and verbal abuse in meetings, on the phone and via email and social media.

Some of the threats made have been reported to the police and the Council says it will seek to prosecute anyone behaving abusively to its staff.

Leader Councillor Anthony Mckeown, said: "Our staff work hard to provide services and support for everyone in our community and it is completely unacceptable for them to face abuse and threats or to feel unsafe at work.

"Most of our residents are, thankfully, respectful and show patience and understanding and it is a small minority who behave abusively, but even one incident is one too many and we will not tolerate it.

"There is no excuse and we will report incidents to the Police and take action against anyone who acts aggressively or threatens our staff."

Published 03 September 2025