Employment, financial security and mental health

The government has recently been focusing on getting people back into work. We believe this must also include real action to support people’s mental health. Everyone with mental health difficulties should be supported to achieve financial security and good health through employment support, social security and access to high-quality healthcare services.

Financial security and mental health

Research has shown that financial insecurity can cause or worsen mental health issues. Significant stressors include debt, poor housing, food insecurity and poverty.
Everyone accessing the benefits system should receive adequate support and be treated with dignity and respect. Strict eligibility criteria and benefit sanctions negatively impact the mental health of people who are already struggling.
Many mental health issues fluctuate, affecting people’s ability to work. People should have the freedom to enter and leave work as needed, without the fear of losing benefits they are entitled to.

Employment and mental health

Mental health is shaped by many factors, including employment, finances, housing, relationships, life experiences and much more.
Research has found that being employed can help to improve mental wellbeing. Work provides financial security, structure, community integration and improved confidence.
People must be supported into work that pays a fair wage, offers a good work-life balance, and allows them to feel secure and satisfied.
Beyond an employer’s legal duty of care and protection from discrimination and harassment, there are many other ways employers can support mental health in the workplace. This includes using de-stigmatising language, providing resources like wellness action plans and arranging mental health training for managers.

Access to mental health care

Long wait times can significantly worsen mental health issues. Timely access to mental healthcare is vital.
Patient choice is a critical to providing effective support. Of all the NICE-recommended therapies, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is the main service on offer in the NHS. Ensuring that other effective therapies are available is key.
Mental health can be shaped by wider social factors. This includes racism and discrimination, poor housing, poor working conditions, social isolation and more. To properly support people’s mental health, these wider factors need to be understood and addressed.

Labour Party conference roundtable

At the 2025 Labour Party conference in Liverpool, we hosted a roundtable event on the importance of mental health in ‘Get Britain Working’, in partnership with BACP and BPC. This event followed the Government’s ‘Get Britain Working’ white paper, which set out plans to raise employment by supporting people into work and creating more opportunities for young people to thrive.

Jon Levett, CEO at UKCP, said:

‘Anyone with mental health issues should be supported to achieve financial security. To achieve this, it is vital that people have timely access to a choice of mental health interventions in the NHS, including psychotherapy and counselling services.’

At the event, we were joined by:

key policymakers and parliamentarians, including Sir Stephen Timms (minister of state for social security and disability), Sojan Joseph (chair of APPG on mental health) and Baroness Luciana Berger (event chair and BACP patron)

leading mental health, employment and policy organisations, including Centre for Mental Health, the Mental Health Foundation, Mental Health First Aid England, Able Futures and the Institute for Public Policy Research

Helen Davies, a UKCP psychotherapist and Siân Hopkins, a youth expert by experience.

We discussed:

early intervention and joined-up services are essential for effective mental health and employment support, with preventative action before age 16 reducing the chance of problems later in life.

moving away from a ‘one size fits all' approach’ in mental healthcare or employment support, highlighting the need to expand access to a range of psychotherapies in the NHS.
workforce recruitment and retention problems and how these could be improved by increasing the number of NHS pathways to become a psychotherapist.

the need to tackle wider social factors that affect mental health, such as financial security, relationships, and working conditions, to reduce the impact of inequalities.
the role that employers and workplace culture have in reducing workplace stress, ensuring fair pay and safe working conditions and signposting people to schemes such as Access to Work or Able Futures.

We will develop a shared statement to summarise the key issues raised during this event, including key recommendations. This will be used to engage with the government and other political parties.