Mental health-related conditions are now the primary driver of absenteeism in the UK, surpassing work-related musculoskeletal disorders.
The post-Covid era has ushered in a significant increase in mental health issues in workplaces, leading to labor shortages, productivity issues and rising costs for both the government and insurers.
Data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reveals that more than half of individuals exiting the UK workforce due to long-term illness attribute their departure to depression or anxiety. In the first quarter of 2023, 1.35m people on extended sick leave, accounting for 53 per cent of cases, identified depression, nervousness, or anxiety as the primary cause.
Not surprisingly, a recent report from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that close to one million UK workers are currently battling work-related mental health issues. The HSE found that 914,000 UK workers were grappling with work-related mental health conditions, including stress, depression, or anxiety. These conditions collectively resulted in the loss of 17m working days across the UK due to work-related mental health challenges.
One particular sector grappling with a noticeable surge in mental health-related sick leave is the NHS workforce. In England, mental health concerns now constitute nearly a quarter of all staff absences within the NHS. This increase has been notable since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to a surge in cases of anxiety, stress, and burnout. Throughout 2022, the NHS recorded 27m sick days due to staff absences. This figure is equivalent to almost 75,000 full-time employees and includes 20,400 nurses and 2,900 doctors.
Meanwhile, the Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that the government’s expenditure related to health-related economic inactivity has increased by £16bn annually since the pandemic’s onset. This sum encompasses additional welfare spending
and reduced tax revenues. This has led to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt stating he intends to address this problem of individuals being unable to work due to long-term mental health challenges in his Autumn Statement, with the aim of retaining these individuals in the workforce and reducing reliance on benefits.
Behind the scenes
Heidi Allan, head of financial wellbeing at LCP, conducts research annually on employee financial wellbeing. This survey includes questions about stress, anxiety, depression, and sleep disruptions caused by worry. Over the past four years, a clear and consistent rise in these concerns has been identified. When she initiated this research, approximately 67 per
cent of respondents reported experiencing stress in the preceding 12 months. However, the latest report, published in February this year, reveals a significant increase, with 83 per cent now indicating stress within the same timeframe. This upward trend is consistent when also looking at cases of anxiety and depression.
Allan highlights that significant events over the past five years, including the pandemic, the cost of living crisis, the emergence of various technologies like AI, conflicts in Eastern Europe, and the consequences of Brexit, may have influenced these figures. Additionally, figures from HSE also identify the pandemic as a major contributor to work-related stress, depression, and anxiety, with current rates surpassing those observed in the pre-coronavirus period of 2018–19.
Allan says: “There’s been so much change and inconsistency, and there’s so much that people are feeling out of control of; all of these things are large and monumental events. If you have someone who’s struggling with money, the prospect of what’s going to happen next, feeling out of control, not having an adequate savings buffer to fall back on, having to cut back on grocery shopping, and making all sorts of adjustments are changes that have been made behind the scenes. Now, they’re at a point where there are no more behind-the-scenes actions to be done.”
Early intervention
Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for Grid, notes that while there has been a modest decline in group income protection claims related to mental health issues recently this still ranks as the second most common cause of claims, after cancer. Moxham emphasises the significant benefits of early intervention in facilitating the return to work for individuals
who are absent due to mental health challenges.
Moxham says: “When we’re looking at group income protection, we have seen a slight reduction in mental ill health claims in 2021 and 2022. That could possibly be a result of working from home which could be masking the fact that somebody is not coping very well or perhaps they are able to cope better because they are working from home rather than having to go in and interact [with work colleagues].
“Having said that, mental illness is the second highest cause of claims for group income protection after cancer. “ Early intervention can help people get back to work, and she points out that in 2022 insurers helped get 47 per cent of people suggesting mental health back into work before they needed to make a GIP claim. This, she says, is because they received help within the first six months of their absence. “That’s largely the result of people having access through their group income protection, group risk schemes, employee assistance programmes, counselling and talking therapy which they can get without waiting for months.”
Top priority?
There is evidence to suggest that employers are prioritising mental health, with almost a quarter of the UK’s largest listed employers showing improvement in workplace mental health performance in the past year. Nearly half have acknowledged the connection between financial wellbeing and employee mental health, according to the CCLA Corporate Mental Health Benchmark-UK 100.
CCLA stewardship lead Amy Browne says: “Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis have only served to compound our belief that poor mental health is a systemic risk. Companies have an economic and moral imperative to manage this risk. The huge increase in companies acknowledging the link between fair pay and financial wellbeing, and the mental health of their employees, is encouraging. It demonstrates that employers have an increasing awareness of their own responsibilities in ensuring good mental health in
the workplace.”
There has also been a continued uptake of remote work since late March 2023 and according to the ONS, five out of 10 UK businesses either currently employ remote workers or have plans to do so in future. However 51 per cent of the businesses polled said the main driver of this shift was the reduction of overhead expenses rather than boosting employee wellbeing which was only mentioned by as a priority by 47 per cent of employers.
With remote working looking like it’s here to stay, experts face difficulty in forecasting how this shift will impact future mental health statistics.
Allan says: “Remote working definitely has some benefits but actually that needs to be balanced with human interaction and the sharing of opportunities. If you get the communication right and you get the ‘in office days’ right so that they have value and meaning then that would be far easier to get people back into the office.”
