HSE statistics reveal uptick in UK work-related mental health issues

Kevin Bridges and Katherine Metcalfe were speaking after the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed that approximately 1.9 million people reported suffering from work-related illnesses in 2024. The increase marks a disappointing uptick in work-related ill health reports, which had reduced slightly from 1.8 million in 2022 to 1.7 million in 2023.

The main driver behind the increase appears to be work-related stress, depression and anxiety. Despite marginal improvement last year, the number of workers that reported experiencing stress, depression or anxiety due to work-related factors rose from 776,000 in 2023 to 964,000 in 2024.

The number of workers that endured musculoskeletal disorders linked to their work reduced slightly from 543,000 to 511,000 in 2024.

The statistics also come just weeks after the government published the results of an independent review on workplace ill health, including recommendations on what more employers can do to tackle this issue and what government should be doing to encourage and support people living with ill-health and disabled people in the workplace.

Although employers had already been identified as playing a key role in preventing workplace ill health and improving outcomes, Bridges, a health and safety law expert at Pinsent Masons, said that the report went considerably further, placing employers “in the lead”. The paper states: “Employers are uniquely placed to ‘do’ prevention - by encouraging safe and early conversations about emerging health issues, making reasonable adjustments, supporting people swiftly, and offering flexibility for treatment and phased returns. They can act on prevention in ways the NHS can never do alone. Many already try, spending significantly but too often against a system that feels fragmented and unsupportive.”

The report also calls for a “system- wide change” with “a fundamental shift from a model where health at work is largely left to the individual and the NHS, to one where it becomes a shared responsibility between employers, employees and health services”. 

It emphasises that workplaces need to focus their efforts on prevention, early intervention, and support for employees, with incentives for employers who engage in the process. The report suggests a three-phase delivery plan with the initial three years focussed on the government working with employers, providers and leadership groups to understand key issues around workplace ill health and to develop and formalise an outcome focussed framework of positive practices to address these, known as the healthy working lifecycle (HWL).

This collaboration will also feed into development of a workplace health provision (WHP). The WHP will be a non-clinical case management system which will build on existing provision, including occupational health. It aims to give employers and line managers support and advice, early intervention, good case management, and targeted early-stage treatment pathways. 

In response to the report, the government has confirmed it is to partner with employers “to reshape how health issues and disabilities are managed in the workplace with the launch of employer-led Vanguards”. These vanguards are expected to develop and refine workplace health approaches over the next three years to build the evidence base for the HWL The government has also confirmed it will work towards developing this into a voluntary certified standard by 2029.

Bridges said the uptick in work-related stress, depression and anxiety and the report’s findings suggest there needs to be a radical rethink in the way that governments and employers approach this issue. “Tackling workplace ill health is both a regulator and political priority with an increasing number of resources available to help employers fulfil their duties,” he said. “However, employers cannot do it alone and while the potential for regulator action for failure may be persuasive, incentives for both employers and employees may well prove to be a better, and fairer, option. Whether the report’s recommendations on this translate into practice remains to be seen.”