We鈥檙e hopeful the Government鈥檚 plans to focus on mental health, including expanding mental health services to meet rising need, are the right approach to help people who want to work, back into the workplace.

But we鈥檙e concerned these plans will be difficult to achieve without clearer proposals to grow the counselling and therapy workforce, who are necessary to provide these services.

The plans are included in the Government鈥檚 new 鈥�鈥� white paper. They feature measures to help better support 2.8 million people unable to work due to long-term sickness as well as the one in eight of young people who aren鈥檛 in education, employment or training.聽聽

Talking Therapies expansion promised

Plans from the white paper include:

  • Addressing key public health issues that contribute to worklessness, including an expansion of NHS Talking Therapies.聽聽
  • Expanding access to expert employment advisers as part of treatment and care pathways, in particular within mental health and musculoskeletal services.聽
  • Expanding Individual Placement and Support (IPS) for severe mental illness to an additional 140,000 people by 2028/29.聽
  • Connect to Work, a new supported employment programme, will support up to 100,000 people a year at full rollout, as the first tranche of money from a new Get Britain Working Fund.聽聽聽
  • Delivering a Youth Guarantee so that all 18 to 21-year-olds in England have access to education, training or help to find a job or an apprenticeship.聽

Demands on workforce capacity 聽

Matt Smith-Lilley, 香港六合彩精准资料 Policy and Engagement Lead for Mental Health, said:聽

鈥淲e welcome expanding services for people with mental ill health within the white paper. However, increasingly the trend has been rising demand for NHS Talking Therapies services outstripping increases in service capacity.

鈥淲e鈥檙e worried there鈥檚 a risk that the plans will exacerbate this gap, between capacity and demand, unless a clear plan for workforce growth is set out as well. 聽

鈥淭he Government also needs to recognise that a range of psychological therapies, including counselling, psychotherapy and CBT, are all equally effective. But the most important factor is giving people an informed choice over the type of intervention they receive 鈥� research consistently shows that this leads to the best outcome.

鈥淥ver 70% of our members would like to work in the NHS and say they have capacity to take on an additional 1 day a week鈥檚 NHS work.

鈥淗owever, too often counsellors and psychotherapists are overlooked and undervalued in discussions around workforce expansion. We urge the Government to meet with us to see how we could help and support their plans.鈥�

Plans must strike a balance with business

Kris Ambler, 香港六合彩精准资料 Workforce Lead, said:聽

鈥淲e welcome this independent review, yet some employers may feel as though they are already over-burdened in an increasingly difficult climate.聽聽

鈥淭here鈥檚 lots of evidence pointing to the return of investment (ROI) of employee health and wellbeing. For every 拢10,000 invested in mental health initiatives, for example, the average return is 拢50,000.

鈥淚nvesting in workplace counselling, provided through an employee assistance programme (EAP) or privately, can reduce sickness absence rates by up to 50% and help people return to work better prepared and more resilient.

鈥淯K employers have taken great strides forward in recent years, helping raise awareness and normalise conversations around health and wellbeing at work. Many employers offer a range of benefits to help support people in work, including access to counselling, flexible work patterns and health screening. However, none of these are substitutes for 鈥榞ood work鈥�, where employees feel secure, valued and fairly rewarded.聽聽

鈥淎ny review must strike a balance that recognises the significant pressures UK businesses are facing whilst providing them with incentives to invest in the health, wellbeing and inclusivity of their workforces鈥�.聽

Meaningful work is a priority

As the next steps to implement and effectively deliver the proposals emerge, we鈥檒l work with the Government to ensure counselling and psychotherapy are part of the workforce expansion planned, to help deliver much needed service expansion.

We want to ensure no one feels they need to choose between their health, work and benefits, and that a focus on securing meaningful work for people is a priority over work at any cost.聽