The TUC declares work-related stress “crisis” as HSE stats show 22 million working days were lost due to stress in 2024/2025. Britain is facing a work-related stress crisis, according to new TUC data released in January 2026.
Almost eight in ten (79 per cent) of union reps taking part in the TUC's 15th biennial survey reported stress as one of the main concerns they face at work - and that employers are routinely failing to assess or act on the risks.
Read what the survey of more than 2,700 union safety reps found: tuc.org.uk
A global epidemic linked to inequality
Stress and the psychosocial harms in the workplace is also a global epidemic particularly where workers have no or little say at work. For more on the global perspective, see ituc-csi.org
In a United Nations report from July 2024, reporter Olivier De Schutter, identifies the mechanisms that expose people in poverty to a heightened risk of mental health conditions, and he examines how, despite the extraordinary resilience of many people in poverty, mental health issues can perpetuate poverty. He calls upon States to move from a biomedical approach to mental health, which treats it as a problem of the individual, to an approach that addresses its social determinants. In order to combat the global tide of depression and anxiety, more should be done to fight poverty and inequality, and to address economic insecurity.
In addition to increasing investments in mental health care, the Special Rapporteur identifies addressing the psychosocial risks caused by the casualisation of labour, strengthening social protection by providing an unconditional basic income, de-stigmatising mental health conditions and facilitating access to green spaces in order to reconnect with nature, as priority interventions. The vicious cycles connecting poverty to mental health problems are the price we pay for the current focus on stimulating competition and performance. In a society obsessed with increasing total economic output, these cycles can be broken, provided we put well-being above the endless quest for economic growth.
Read the UN summary from 2024: documents.un.org
