Today’s more open approach to mental health has ‘gone too far’ and more people with ‘mild’ health conditions should get jobs, work and pensions secretary Mel Stride has said.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph as he unveils plans to get 150,000 people who are signed off work with mild conditions to look for work, Stride said Britain risks labelling the “normal ups and downs of human life” as medical conditions which “serve to hold people back and, ultimately, drive up the benefit bill”.
An estimated 2.8 million people of working age are economically inactive, many of whom are on long-term sick leave.
Long-term sickness
Back to Work plan slammed for threat of benefit removal
Last year, the government announced a £7bn Back to Work Plan that included threatening the removal of some benefits if claimants refused to engage in the job search process.
Stride said that Britain seems to have “forgotten that work is good for mental health”.
“If they go to the doctor and say, ‘I’m feeling rather down and bluesy’, the doctor will give them on average about seven minutes and then, on 94 per cent of occasions, they will be signed off as not fit to carry out any work whatsoever,” said Stride.
He said that although he was “grateful for today’s much more open approach to mental health, there was a danger that this has gone too far”, and called for an “honest, grown-up debate” on the topic.
“It is too important for people and their futures, too important for the way that welfare works and too important for the economy to just ignore,” he said.
I’m grateful we are more open about mental health these days. It means many more people getting the help they need
But sometimes everyday anxieties are being labelled as medical problems, and that isn’t right
My reforms will change lives for the betterhttps://t.co/KlEFSAWVlx
— Mel Stride (@MelJStride) March 21, 2024
Recent figures from the Department for Work and Pensions showed that 69% of work capability assessments carried out between January 2022 and November 2023 recorded a mental or behavioural disorder.
Ninety per cent of people found to have limited capability for work had a mental health or behavioural condition.
Dr Sarah Hughes, chief executive of mental health charity Mind, said the minister’s comments risked increasing the stigma around mental health.
“Politicians and commentators need to consider the impact of their words on people who face exceptionally difficult circumstances,” she said.
“While latest figures from the DWP do show an increase in the number of people unable to work due to mental health problems, the answer is not to force them into employment regardless.
“People need to be offered tailored support from experts if they are to return to work, not threats of losing what little money they currently have to live on. That support just isn’t there – with over two million people on waiting lists for NHS mental health services it is clear that the focus should be on improving the system.”
Karl Bennett, director of employee benefits platform Vivup and chair of the Employee Assistance Programmes Association, said: “The work and pensions secretary’s words around this issue aren’t helpful for people or organisations.
“Organisations, generally, are working hard to identify what may cause anxiety in the workplace. They are enabling access to proactive and preventative mechanisms that provide employees with the ability to better manage the normal struggles that people deal with on a day to day basis. It’s difficult for them to second guess important issues that are impacting their workforce, so when people talk openly about issues, they are able to better refine their support strategies.”
Bennett said it had taken a long time to remove some of the stigma around mental health.
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“We don’t want people to have any reason to hide their issues away again,” he added.
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