‘We’re getting Britain back to work’
Boost for mental health to reverse long-term sickness
MINISTERS have vowed to get Britain back to work in the wake of a health-related economic emergency.
A mental health crisis – primarily among young men – is blamed for record numbers missing from work.
Figures show 9.3 million are “economically inactive” but 2.8 million are off work or out of education because of long-term sickness – a rise of 8.4% in a year.
NHS services are being bolstered to help address the crisis and new measures are expected to be announced in Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Budget on Wednesday.
This follows an announcement in the Autumn Statement, including benefits being withdrawn from those suffering long-term health conditions and disabilities if they are unable to find a job within 18 months.
Ministers are also planning to trial reforms to make it easier and quicker for people to get specialised work and health support.
Last night a Government spokesman told the Daily Express: “We’re committed to driving down longterm sickness related inactivity.
“This is why we’ve introduced our £2.5billion Back to Work Plan to help millions of people manage their health conditions while supporting them back into work.
“As part of this, we’re ensuring thousands more people benefit from tailored mental health treatment while helping them find work by expanding and improving NHS Talking Therapies – backed by £795million.
“We’re also investing £2.3billion to expand provision of wider NHS mental health services so millions more people can get the treatment they need.” Figures show there are now 1.3 million people on unemployment benefits – payments while they actively look for work. But the number claiming out-of-work benefits stands
at 5.6 million people. The total number of UK workers is around 30.4 million with the unemployment rate at 3.8%.
Access to mental health services is expanding, putting almost 400,000 extra people through NHS Talking Therapies, in an effort to “tackle one of the main reasons for sickness absence”.
The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts those on the highest tier of health benefits was due to grow from 2.4 million this financial year to 2.9 million in 2028/29.
Anxiety
The Department for Work and Pensions claims around 370,000 people will be offered personalised support to help them move closer towards work.
The record number of economically inactive people due to ill health means the UK remains the only G7 economy yet to return to pre-pandemic employment levels. Since Covid erupted in 2020 inactivity among 16 to 64-yearolds has jumped from 8.6 million to 9.3 million, a rise of 728,000.
Between October and December last year 16 to 24-year-olds accounted for more than half the overall rise in economic inactivity.
David Willetts, President of the Resolution Foundation, said: “There does seem to be a genuine underlying rise in mental health problems, especially among young people. It is perhaps due to the endless sense of personal dissatisfaction compared with others generated by social media.
“And while more educated young people seem to be able to combine these conditions with working there is a distressing mix of ill-health and non-work amongst the less skilled.
“And with many of these types of ill-health the direction of causation goes both ways – people who are out of work for longer tend to develop health conditions, especially of a mental kind.”
NHS Talking Therapies provides psychological treatment, including cognitive behavioural therapy, for mild and moderate cases of mental health conditions like obsessive compulsive disorder, depression and anxiety.
Estimates suggest expanding the programme means an extra 384,000 people will benefit from treatment in the next five years, while the average number of therapy sessions each person can access, typically six, will rise.
Yet experts say this will barely scratch the surface. Andy Bell, chief executive of Centre for Mental Health, said: “We need urgent and concerted action to improve peo- ple’s mental health. That must start with tackling poverty and financial insecurity. Ensuring everyone can afford life’s essentials is a vital foundation for better mental health.We also need investment in the full range of mental health services, to offer people effective help quickly when they need it.”
The number of people aged between 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training peaked at 1.2 million in 2011. Since then it has dropped to around 800,000. But research by The Resolution Foundation found the number of 18 to 24-year-olds in this category almost doubled in a decade from 94,000 in 2012 to 185,000 in 2022.
Almost one in four workless young people are not in jobs because of ill health, up from less than a tenth in 2012, a factor almost single-handedly attributed to mental ill health.
Mark Winstanley, chief executive of Rethink Mental Illness, said: “More action is desperately needed to lift mental health and help more people back into work, given the positive impact that a good job can have on your wellbeing.
“We were pleased to see the Government invest in employment schemes last year to help people struggling with their mental health.
“But it could boost the number of people in work by better tackling the drivers of mental illness, such as poverty and poor housing, alongside ensuring mental health services have enough resources to support everyone who needs it.
“Meanwhile, the benefits system must not penalise those struggling with their mental health, because this causes harm and actively pushes people further away from being well enough to work.”