Britain's most anxious university cities

Yahoo

28-03-2025

Generation Z are often derided as snowflakes, lazy and unsuited for the workforce. Too concerned about their mental health, unable or unwilling to put the hard yards in, doing 'Mickey Mouse' degrees.
But there is an undeniable mental health crisis among the young which is driving higher benefits claims, especially in university cities.
There has been a huge jump in the number of young people claiming benefits for mental health. More than one in 20 people aged 16 to 30 are claiming disability benefits for mental health issues, according to Telegraph analysis of Department for Work and Pensions data.
This is particularly the case in Liverpool, Nottingham, Bristol and Leeds – all cities with big university populations.
Almost a fifth of students reported a mental health difficulty in 2024, according to research by King's College London and TASO – the equivalent of 300,000 nationwide. The rate has tripled in the last seven years.
Why has there been such a jump in young people claiming mental health benefits, especially in student cities?
Anyone over the age of 16 can claim personal independence payments (Pips) – regardless of their employment status – if they have a long-term condition which negatively affects their everyday life. This includes students.
The constituencies where anxiety and depression claims are proportionally largest typically have large student populations. The 50 places with the highest proportion of claims for anxiety and depression have a student population of 10.1pc. This is compared to a national average of 6.3pc.
In two constituencies in Liverpool, which is home to three universities and 60,000 students, claims for anxiety and depression make up more than 16.3pc of claims.
In Nottingham East, which has a student population of more than 21pc, mental health makes up 17.2pc of Pip claims – the second highest proportion of any English constituency.
In Bristol, which has a 27pc student population in its centre, joint anxiety and depression claims make up 16.3pc of total claims. And in Leeds Central and Headingley, which has a student population of nearly 40pc, the proportion of anxiety and depression claims is 16pc.
This is part of a larger trend of young people claiming benefits for mental health.
Three quarters of the 576,000 claims for disability living allowance and Pips for those aged between 16 and 30 are for psychological disorders, including anxiety, learning disabilities and ADHD. This figure is equivalent to 4.4pc of the population in England, up from 2.5pc in 2019 and just 1.1pc two decades ago.
Overall, 5.8pc of young adults are entitled to claim disability benefits – a figure that has risen more than threefold since the early-2000s.
Nicola Frampton, of mental health charity Student Minds, says: 'If students are increasingly claiming Pips for mental health reasons, it is likely a reflection of the growing numbers of students experiencing mental ill-health at university, which is commonly compounded by the impacts of financial hardship and the cost of living crisis.'
Increasing dependence on technology may be making the problem worse. Around two million young Britons have self-diagnosed their mental health conditions, according to a report from insurer AXA Health, with many relying on medical advice from social media sites such as TikTok.
One of the reasons for these high rates of mental health disability claimants is because a lack of support in childhood puts more pressure on in-house university mental health services.
Mental health services for children are notoriously patchy. In March 2024, there were 270,000 children on mental health waiting lists, according to the Children's Commissioner.
The difficulty in accessing formal support for children means that for many students, university is the first time they can easily get help.
Elaine Hughes, a disability inclusion expert, says: 'I do think societal pressure, social media and the lack of mental health support access at a younger age to address these issues causes it to become more apparent and thus leads to a breakdown at university and contribution to a rise in claims.
'Then they mask to get to university and become overwhelmed and burnt out, which leads to a mental health diagnosis, usually after hospitalisation. Then, they claim Pips as a result.'
Some universities, including Bristol, advise students online that they could be eligible to claim, saying: 'Pips can help with extra living costs', if you have a long-term condition and struggle day-to-day.
Anglia Ruskin University, in Cambridge, has published a comprehensive document outlining how students struggling with disabilities, including poor mental health, can claim various benefits including Pips.
Other institutions offer financial support to students seeking diagnoses. Students at the University of Liverpool can apply for a one-off payment of £350 to help cover the testing costs.
Young people also turn to social media for information and support, where they are bombarded with mental health 'influencers' who advise them of the benefits they could be eligible to claim.
Yasmin Shaheen-Zaffar, a therapist who trained at the University of Bradford between 2019 and 2020, says that students came to see her mainly about anxiety, depression and money troubles.
'Mostly it's anxiety, depression, and worry around finance,' she says.
Alcohol and drug cultures of individual universities could also be contributing to poor mental health, she adds.
'It's almost like no one wants to talk about it or no one wants to admit it. Weed has got stronger, with whatever they're mixing, and there's lots of new drugs as well.'
University counselling is often only for four or six sessions, so therapists are encouraged to make onward referrals for students who needed more support. But Shaheen-Zaffar says she was never in a position to recommend that students apply for disability benefits, including Pip.
While many students value the university services, some say that they had bad experiences – and were therefore more likely to seek alternative help.
Much of the increase in reported mental health problems can be attributed to the Covid pandemic. Even though five years have passed, the nation's youth are scarred by successive lockdowns – with students hit particularly hard.
A University of Oxford study found that those who lived through the pandemic were more likely to suffer from 'increased depression, social, emotional and behavioural difficulties and worsening general mental well-being'.
Some 74pc of students reported that the pandemic had a negative impact on their mental health and wellbeing at university, according to StudentMinds, with two thirds of respondents saying they have 'often felt isolated or lonely since March 2020'.
Many of those pupils – who saw their social development derailed over the course of two years – will now be at university.
'The pandemic had a really big impact in lots of ways,' says Hannah Salton, who was a career adviser at Imperial College.
'It impacted students' learning as well as the social element. Those complications have been reflected in mental health challenges.'
The lockdowns 'really impacted people's social lives', she adds, leaving graduates without the social skills to connect with others.
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