Business chiefs call for mental health first aid in workplaces

BUSINESS leaders have called on the Prime Minister to make mental health first aid provision mandatory in all workplaces.

More than 50 chief executives, from the banking, retail, education and utility sectors, have signed an open letter to Theresa May, warning that workplace mental health issues cost the UK economy almost £35billion a year, with 15.4million working days lost.

The letter highlights a petition signed by more than 200,000 people, calling for a change in the law to give mental health first aid equal status to physical first aid.

Stephen Clarke, the chief executive of WHSmith and one of the signatories, said: “Our employees’ mental health is of equal importance to their physical health. Every one of our 14,000 employees has access to mental health support and we are proud to have the same number of mental health first aiders as we do physical first aiders.”

Campaigners, led by Mental Health First Aid England, hope that clear support from business leaders might be the catalyst the Government needs to push through the change.

Natasha Devon, the campaigner behind the petition, told the Sunday Telegraph: “This Government needs to know that business will back change.

“The response has always been that they think people should be doing this on a voluntary basis and that they didn’t want to force businesses, which form a core part of their support, to do something they might not support.”

If implemented, the proposal would mean that any business large enough to require a first aider by law would also have to ensure the same number of employees were trained in mental health.