Widespread stress, anxiety and hopeless across the UK as people struggle with personal finances

A poll conducted by the Mental Health Foundation has found that the UK population is experiencing high levels of anxiety and stress around financial concerns. The cost of living crisis is set to have an impact on everyone, but even more so those on lower incomes. As we head into the colder months Mind is joining with GO Outdoors to encourage Brits to seek time outdoors to boost their mental health and physical wellbeing.

Written by Bryony Porteous-Sebouhian

Will the autumn mini budget do enough to address national concerns?

The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) has shone a spotlight on the concerns over mental health that have been threatening to surface ever since the energy price increase was announced and since inflation has affected everything from public transport, to buying food.

The MHF’s survey of 3000 adults aged 18 and over was conducted by Opinium between the 7th and 14th of November. It found that:

• One in ten adults (10%) are feeling hopeless about their financial circumstances.
• Over a third (34%) are feeling anxious
• While just under 30% (29%) have felt stressed in the past month.

Digging further into financial concerns, MHF found that UK adults are concerned about not being able to maintain their standard of living (71%), not being able to heat their home (66%) and not being able to pay their monthly household bills (61%).

Another concerning statistic was that half of adults surveyed were at least ‘a little worried’ about being able to afford the food they needed over the next few months. This number increased to 67% when limiting the age range to 18-34.

The survey was conducted ahead of the autumn mini budget that has addressed issues including those on benefits, funding for the NHS and schools and the ongoing financial support for energy bills.

The MHF warned the government that evidence repeatedly shows that financial strain and poverty are key contributors to mental health problems and so the more people struggle to make ends meet, the more likely an even bigger mental health crisis is, putting even more strain on an already struggling NHS.

Mark Rowland, Chief Executive of MHF has said:

“Our findings are a warning sign of the mental health consequences of the cost of living crisis. We must protect public services and benefits at this crucial time. If people are struggling to meet their essential needs for a warm home and enough healthy food for their families, we can expect a significant rise in mental health problems as the burden of financial strain continues to take its toll.”?

Looking to what can be changed and enacted now to prevent further mental ill-health, Mr Rowland said:

“The challenge the country faces cannot be easily addressed. However, there are steps we can take to protect people’s mental health at this time. We must support those at higher risk by, for example, raising benefits in line with inflation and employers committing to pay their staff the real living wage. Training front-line staff in social security and debt services on how to recognise and respond sensitively to the trauma experienced by many people they are working with can also help.”

Finally, he concluded saying, “Preventing mental health problems is vital. Our mental health services are already stretched beyond capacity; we cannot sit on the side lines and watch them collapse under ever-greater demand.”

Since these survey results were published by MHF, the autumn budget has been announced. The UK government has now promised to increase benefits in line with inflation, however this will not come into effect until April 2023, leaving many people in desperate need without through winter.

The budget also announced an extra ￡3.3 bullion in funding for the NHS each year, from 2023 till 2025. However, Mind has said , ‘Initial evaluations suggest this falls short of addressing the shortfall in NHS budgets caused by inflation, and may amount to a real-terms cut.’

“It is not an exaggeration to say our mental health system is on the brink of collapse”

Addressing these two aspects of the autumn budget, Mind’s interim CEO, Sophie Corlett has said firstly that, “millions of those on the lowest incomes will continue to struggle this winter, particularly as price rises have already occurred while this inflation level increase will not come into place until April.”

Ms Corlett emphasised that “The UK government should seriously consider bringing forward this increase to as soon as possible.”

On the ￡3.3 billion of funding for the NHS Ms Corlett stated plainly that the “intention to support”, although welcome will actually amount to a “real-terms drop in funding for the NHS at the worst possible time.”

Mr Corlett emphasised that it is “important we get an explicit guarantee that funding will be used to bolster our mental health services, which are struggling immensely right now.”

She continued, “What would have been ground-breaking today is for the Chancellor to stand up and make an explicit recognition that the cost-of-living crisis is impacting the mental health of millions of people across Britain right now, and that our mental health provision urgently needs investment. He knows this, having spent years working closely with the health sector.”

Ms Corlett stated firmly that “Now is not the time to be compromising on care” and that “there are currently 1.8 million people on the waiting list for mental health services and another 8 million who could benefit from support but can't access it.”

“Despite the country facing a mental health crisis amidst the largest spike in living costs for generations, mental health services have been deprioritised – just as the nation needs them the most.”

Ms Corlett continued to appeal to those decision makers within government saying, “It is not exaggeration to say our mental health system is on the brink of collapse, and the cost of living crisis has the potential to tip it over the edge.”

Finally, she appealed to the Chancellor, to “prepare the mental health sector for a growth in people presenting with new and increasingly complex mental health issues”, to do this, Ms Corlett addressed the workforce issues that underpin every long waiting list for therapy, and every person unable to access inpatient care when they need it, with a “multi-year funding settlement for training and education.”

How can people find ways to manage their mental health during this difficult time?

Mind has partnered with GO Outdoors to encourage Brits to get outside and spend time in nature, citing results from a survey that found 36% of people are struggling with their mental health due to the cost of living crisis.

In the same survey, 65% of Brits said that physical exercise and spending time outdoors has had a positive impact on their mental health, with 25% also saying that exercising outdoors is preferable because it is cheaper than going to a gym.

However, many Brits seem to struggle to get outdoors, with many admitting they only seek outdoor exercise once a week.

The potential for ‘green exercise’ is enormous though, as Mind cited that 94% of people who took part in walking in nature said it benefited their mental health. Walking was also identified as the most popular activity for those with mental health problems.

To encourage people to spend more time outdoors, and to give some much-needed support to Mind as research and insights into mental health become all the more important, in partnership with Go Outdoors, Mind will be selling hats, with all proceeds going to the charity.

The hats can be found online or in GO Outdoors, Blacks, Millets and Fishing Republic stores. The charity is also encouraging people to post their outdoor excursions with the tag #HatsOnForMind to encourage more people to spend time in the great (or small) outdoors this winter.?