Government urged to consider people’s mental health in the autumn statement

The government needs to take action in today’s autumn statement to address the persistent money worries that are driving an ongoing cycle of despair for many people across the UK, it has been claimed.

Unacceptable levels of mental distress

According to the Mental Health Foundation, current levels of mental distress in the UK are unacceptable and there are steps the government could take to ease the problem.

The charity’s latest poll carried out in the past few weeks found 31% of adults had felt anxious, 27% had felt stressed and 9% had felt hopeless about their financial situation in the last month.

Poorest carrying the heaviest burden

Dr Shari McDaid from the Mental Health Foundation commented:

“Sometimes it can seem that there is a strange sense of normality about the struggles that people are experiencing; as though we must accept that, despite living in one of the richest countries on Earth, research from the Trussell Trust tells us that one in seven of us face hunger due to lack of money to buy food.”

She added:

“[I]t is the people who have the least that carry the heaviest burdens”.

Mental health impact assessments

McDaid called on the government to introduce a mental health impact assessment for all its policies to encourage the changes needed to support good mental health for all.

She said the decision to freeze the income tax-free allowance until 2028 was one policy having a disastrous effect on the mental health of people on low incomes, as they lose a higher proportion of their salaries as inflation increases.

Much work to be done

She concluded:

“There is much work to be done: In this week’s autumn statement, we need to hear about financial support schemes that will prevent people from experiencing financial strain and associated mental health problems.

“That would be a step in the right direction.”