‘We are urging all political parties to prioritise mental health’

Mental health has been in the headlines following the UK Prime Minister's comments when announcing welfare reforms laid out in the government's Disability Green Paper. Rishi Sunak warned against 'over-medicalising the everyday challenges and worries of life' in providing financial support to those with mental health conditions.

Sunak made these comments in a speech which included his concerns over the sustainability of the Personal Independence Payments model. In the foreword to the Green Paper, he says that since the introduction of PIP, 'the appearance of disability and ill health in Britain has changed profoundly, and the clinical case mix has evolved in line with broader societal changes including many more people applying for disability benefits with mental health and neurodivergent conditions'. Sunak said the UK had a 'sicknote culture' amid a rise in 'economic inactivity', particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic, driven largely by mental health conditions.

The BPS, which is planning to engage with its members in a response to the government's Green Paper, said it was deeply concerned by Sunak's comments. President-Elect of The British Psychological Society, Dr Roman Raczka, said it was concerning that Sunak appeared to be minimising the mental health challenges people in the UK were facing, and the impact they have on people's ability to work.

'The idea that people are merely overreacting to everyday challenges is an outdated view of what mental health is, and it does nothing to encourage people to talk about it, elicit empathy from others or seek expert support. With clear evidence that approaches such as benefit sanctions and using fear to get people back to work do not work, it is extremely frustrating to once again see the government going down this route to try and reduce the number of people with mental health challenges that prevent them from working.'

Raczka suggested that the government should invest in mental health services and the workforce to ensure people receive the support they need and the necessary expert support to help them back into to work. Given the fact there are more people than ever waiting for a mental health assessment, Raczka also emphasised a need to tackle this backlog and increase capacity.

Meanwhile, the Centre for Mental Health published a report which found the cost of mental ill health was £300 billion per year – double the NHS's entire budget in England in 2022. The BPS, in response to this report, warned that society was paying the price for years of underinvestment and inaction.

Raczka said we needed 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 found the economic costs, including those related to sickness absence, presenteeism, staff turnover and unemployment, amounted to £110 billion, human costs including reduced quality of life and wellbeing cost £130 billion, and health and care costs of £60 billion – equal, the report says, to the economic impact of having a pandemic every year.

The Centre for Mental Health, alongside the Children and Young People's Mental Health Coalition, also published a report on the factors that can cause children to not attend school, including the impact of mental health difficulties and a lack of access to timely mental health support. 

Chair of the Division of Educational and Child Psychology, Dr Gavin Morgan, welcomed the new report and said the content chimed with the experiences of educational psychologists. 'A focus on tackling these issues, including poor mental health, is likely to be far more effective in keeping young people in school than a punitive approach based around fines and sanctions.'

The report called for the Department for Education to introduce a mental health and wellbeing absence code and set clear and realistic thresholds for its use as part of the revised statutory guidance on school attendance. As part of a focus on the mental health component of school attendance, the report also suggested improving access to mental health support for those students who needed it.

The BPS has also continued to advocate for the provision of mental health support for NHS staff after new data revealed the soaring number of staff absences caused by stress-related illness. The data, released by NHS England, found that midwives (30.6 per cent), ambulance staff (26.2 per cent), and Hospital and Community Health Service doctors (20 per cent) were among the most likely to report a stress-related illness last year.

Raczka said that support was more important than ever now given the unprecedented workload pressures NHS staff were facing. 'But with ringfenced Government funding for NHS Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hubs having ended in March last year, getting access to dedicated local psychological help has now become a postcode lottery. 

Long-term funding for staff mental health and wellbeing services from the Government is fundamental to keep staff in the sector and to deliver the NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan. We must look after those who dedicate their lives to caring for us.'

Read more about the BPS's campaign on NHS Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hubs and find other mental health and policy news.