On 7 December, 2009 the Government launched Working our way to better mental health: a framework for action, the first ever national mental health and employment strategy.
The framework for action is designed to:
- Improve well-being at work for everyone, and
- Deliver significantly better employment results for people with mental health conditions, supporting them into work, helping them to stay in work and assisting them to return to work more quickly after sickness absences.
Dame Carol Black's review of the health of Britain's working age population estimated that the economy loses over £100 billion a year through ill-health and associated sickness absence and unemployment. Mental ill-health accounts for between £30 and £40 billion of this.
The strategy establishes a cross-government approach to tackling this cost and waste of talent.
Evidence shows that:
- More than one quarter of the population still think that people who have mental health conditions should not have the same rights to a job as anyone else.
- Many employers do not believe that they employ anyone who has a mental health condition.
- Fewer than four in ten employers have said that they would recruit someone who had a mental health condition.
Yet many people with mental health conditions are successful in their jobs. We must ensure that all people are allowed to reach their full potential and that no one misses out on the benefits that good work can bring.
Download a copy of the mental health and employment strategy - Working our way to better mental health: a framework for action.
The companion guide to Working our way to better mental health: a framework for action contains a summary of the strategy commitments and up-to-date links to relevant online resources.
Three other inter-related documents were released in conjunction with the strategy: