The TUC has expressed scepticism about Conservative plans to ‘transform how mental health is regarded in the workplace’ while cutting mental health services and doing nothing on prevention.
The union body was commenting on the Conservative Party election manifesto, which notes: “We will amend health and safety regulations so that employers provide appropriate first aid training and needs assessment for mental health, as they currently do for risks to physical health.” This followed prime minister Theresa May’s announcement earlier this month that larger organisations would be required to provide mental health first aid (Risks 799).
The TUC said this approach has been around for years, and has been promoted by the Department of Health since 2012, with over 100,000 people already trained in mental health first aid. “But there are two things wrong with what the Conservatives are proposing,” notes TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson.
“The first is that mental health services in many areas have been consistently slashed over the last seven years with a lot of local mental health budgets being raided for other purposes, yet the manifesto is offering no new funding. This means that there are often no suitable support services available for mental health first aiders to point workers towards. Secondly, they are saying nothing about prevention.”
Noting official statistics show half a million people in Great Britain are suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety, he added: “For years the trade unions have been saying that we need simple clear regulations on stress so that employers know what they have to do and enforcement agencies can ensure they are doing it.
“Yet successive governments have refused to act. Instead employers are increasingly investing in training for workers about how they can manage stress which throws the problem on to the worker and sees it as their responsibility.”
He said while mental health first aiders are welcome, “they are not a response to workplace stress. If the government really wants to help then give us legal protection from one of the main causes of mental health disorders – stress, and at the same time put some new ring-fenced money into improving early access to NHS mental health services.”
