Workers' stress complaints drive surge in private mental health clinics

Telegraph

24-04-2025

Workers complaining of stress are fuelling a boom in private mental health clinics.
Bupa is to launch mental health centres across the UK to deal with an 'exponential' rise in demand from stressed workers.
Its 70 'mindspace' centres will focus on corporate clients and their family members.
Bupa's chief executive said businesses were crying out for more help, with sick leave rising and productivity falling. The company has seen demand for access to mental health treatments rise by 20 per cent year on year since 2020.
The initiative comes as Wes Streeting launches a call for evidence, inviting individuals and organisations to offer expertise informing decision-making, ahead of the first-ever men's health strategy.
The Health Secretary said men were being 'hit harder' by health problems, with suicide the leading cause of death for men under 50.
Across the country, mental health claims have fuelled a surge in benefits payments post-Covid, while overall spending on working age sickness and disability benefits have risen by £20 billion.
One in four pounds paid in income tax is expected to go towards sickness benefits by the end of this decade, unless the trajectory changes.
On Thursday, Bupa's chief executive announced plans to launch 20 'mindspace' centres this year, starting in Guildford, Reading and Bristol – the areas identified as having the highest demand. In total, 70 such facilities will be opened by the end of 2027.
Carlos Jaureguizar, the chief executive of Bupa Global, India & UK, said mental health was now one of the biggest challenges facing businesses, with the new centres aimed at providing help quickly, before individuals reach crisis point.
He said: 'Since 2020, demand for mental health services has grown exponentially for the workforce and their wider family unit, particularly young people. There is an increasing need for mental health support across the UK and fast access to services has never been more important.'
'When we talk to our big corporate clients and our SMEs [small to medium sized enterprises], this trend is really impacting their employees, their capacity to work, their sick leave and the productivity of the country, so we need to do something to solve that.'
He said the centres would ensure clients received fast access to face-to-face care, with a focus on prevention.
The service will be offered to individual customers, as well as corporate clients, and later be made available for self-pay customers.
Mr Jaureguizar said: 'Mindspace facilities will help people get fast access to face-to-face care. They reflect our commitment to prevention, identifying urgent needs amongst our customers where early intervention can lead to better health outcomes.'
'Major driver of youth worklessness'
Last month, a report by PwC suggested that Generation Z were giving up on work, with almost four in 10 considering leaving their job and ending up on benefits.
It warned that a generation of workers was now in danger of permanently drifting out of the jobs market and identified mental health conditions as a 'major driver' of youth worklessness.
PwC said economic inactivity, where people are neither in work nor looking for a job, was on course to rise further, with 4.4 million workers – one in 10 of the overall workforce – now 'on the brink of leaving the labour market'.
In a stark warning, the Big Four accountancy firm, which employs roughly 26,000 people in the UK, also said many employers were wary of taking on people who had been out of work for an extended period.
Research by benefits provider Unum suggests that one in three UK employees experience some form of mental health concern annually, with a quarter saying their mental wellbeing has worsened in the past year.
Meanwhile, analysis by accounting firm Deloitte found that mental health problems are costing UK companies £51 billion each year.
It also noted that while cost of living, job security and personal or family finances were top priorities among working adults, children's mental health was one of the greatest concerns for almost half of working parents.
The centres will be accessible to Bupa's four million UK insurance customers, many of whom have corporate accounts.
The mindspace facilities will offer access to face-to-face talking therapies, including counselling, psychology, psychotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy.
Mindspace facilities will become available to self-pay customers shortly after.
A survey this year found that one in three young workers have taken sick days because of mental health issues triggered by stress.
Some 35 per cent of employees aged 18 to 24 reported feeling so unwell as a result of stress that they had to take time off from work last year, according to charity Mental Health UK.
'Many men are dying too young'
On Thursday, Mr Streeting will promise action to prevent and tackle the biggest health problems facing men, and to 'close the life-expectancy gap', which sees men die almost four years earlier than women on average.
'Every day, men across England are dying early from preventable causes. Men are hit harder by a range of conditions, while tragically suicide is the leading cause of death for men under 50.
'Our Plan For Change means we will tackle these issues head on through a men's health strategy, and today's call for evidence is the crucial next step in understanding what works, what doesn't, and how we can design services men will actually use,' he said, urging the public to share their views.
The call for evidence will be open for 12 weeks on the Department of Health and Social Care website.
Amy O'Connor, from the men's health charity Movember, said: 'Too many men are dying too young. The men's health strategy is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in positive change for men and their loved ones.
Julie Bentley, the chief executive of Samaritans, said: 'Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50 so it's critical that suicide prevention is front and centre of this strategy. With men making up 75 per cent of all suicides, this strategy is a real opportunity to prevent thousands of deaths.'
Earlier this year, Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, rejected the suggestion that a 'minister for men' was needed after calls were made for a government position specifically addressing issues such as behaviour, education and poor mental health.