Society paying the price for failure to invest in mental health services, warns BPS
The BPS is urging politicians to consider long-term investment in mental health, as a new report lays bare the soaring economic and human cost of mental ill health.
27 March 2024
The Centre for Mental Health report has found the cost of mental ill health is £300 billion per year, double the NHS's entire budget in England in 2022, with the BPS warning that society is paying the price for years of underinvestment and inaction.
Responding to the report, Dr Roman Raczka, President-Elect of the BPS, said:
"Of course, a number cannot fully reflect the true extent of harm people experience due to mental ill health, but they do starkly show the enormous economic and human cost of poor mental health.
"For too long people have paid the price for a failure to invest in mental health services, both in terms of prevention and support.
"We need politicians to take a long-term view when it comes to the nation's mental health and understand the consequences of not providing the necessary levels of investment.
"This is why we are urging all political parties to prioritise mental health within their spending plans – not only is it the right thing to do, but it also makes economic sense."
The report captures economic costs (including those related to sickness absence, presenteeism, staff turnover and unemployment) of £110 billion, 'human costs' (in terms of reduced quality of life and wellbeing) of £130 billion, and health and care costs (including informal care) of £60 billion.
It states that the costs are similar to the estimated impact of Covid-19 on the UK economy in 2020 (£260 billion in 2020 prices) – a comparable impact, economically, to having a pandemic every year.