The Health Secretary has said there is an “overdiagnosis” of mental health conditions with “too many people being written off” as he defended plans to cut the benefits bill.
Wes Streeting did not deny that the Government had dropped plans to freeze personal independent payments (PIP) after a backlash from Labour MPs, but signficant changes are still expected to be announced.
Changes to PIP are expected to include making the disability payment, which is not dependent on work, harder to claim, as well as potential cuts to employment support for those too sick or disabled to work.
When asked if he agreed with experts that warn of an overdiagnosis of mental health conditions, Streeting said he wanted to “follow the evidence, and I agree with that point about overdiagnosis”.
He told the BBC: “Here’s the other thing, mental wellbeing, illness, it’s a spectrum and I think definitely there’s an overdiagnosis but there’s too many people being written off.”
Here, The i Paper takes a look at the number of people claiming benefits for mental health conditions and how much the Government could save by cracking down.
Some 1.3 million people of working age are claiming benefits primarily for mental health or behavioural conditions, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
This represents 44 per cent of all claimants. More than half of the rise in 16- to 64-year-olds claiming disability benefits since the pandemic is because of more claims relating to mental health or behavioural conditions.
Some 37 per cent of all new awards are primarily for mental health conditions (3,900 claims a month), up from 28 per cent in 2019/20 (3,900 claims a month).
Spending on working-age health-related benefits has increased from £36bn in 2019-20 to £48bn in 2023-24.
Official forecasts expect this to rise to £63bn in 2028-29.
For all ages, the amount spent on these benefits has soared from £52bn to £65bn from 2019-20 to 2023-24.
The number of people claiming disability benefits has risen from 2.2 million in 2019-20 to 3.2 million in 2023-24.
How many people with mental health conditions are not working?
The total number of working age people who are economically inactive – not in employment and not activity seeking work – due to long-term sickness has risen from 2.075 million to 2.769 million since the end of 2019, according to the Office for National Statistics’ Labour Force Survey in 2023.
The figure has dropped slightly over the past year.
Over 1.35 million (53 per cent) of people who are economically inactive because of long-term sickness reported that they had depression, bad nerves or anxiety,
However, the majority (over one million) reported it as a secondary health condition rather than their main one.
Some 320,000 reported their primary health condition to be mental illness or “phobias, panics or other nervous disorders”, compared with 269,000 in 2019.
Another 315,000 said their main health issue was “depression, bad nerves or anxiety”, up from 269,000 in 2019.
Autism was named by 98,000, and learning difficulties were identified in another 59,000 people.
Together, these mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental health conditions accounted for 792,000 people not in work because of sickness. This was out of 2.45 million off sick.
A record 3.8 million people were in contact with NHS mental health, learning disability or autism services in 2023-24, up almost two-fifths since before the pandemic. This includes more than one million children.
More than two million people are waiting for NHS mental health support in England, according to the charity Mind.
There were 6.4 million referrals in England to NHS Talking Therapies and other mental health services in 2021-22.
The number of people taking anti-depressants has soared by 43 per cent since 2015/16, from 4.8 million to 6.9 million.
The use of ADHD medication has nearly tripled during the same period, from 80,000 to 232,000 people.
The number of people prescribed hypnotics and anxiolytics – typically used to treat anxiety – fell from 1.2 million to 1 million.
Do experts think there is an overdiagnosis?
NHS consultant neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan is among experts who believe overdiagnosis is a growing problem – not just when it comes to mental health, but across many conditions.
She told The Times this year that normal but challenging emotional states are increasingly being given medical labels.
Sad people are told they have “low serotonin levels”, those who are forgetful, fidgety or unsettled are told their “brain is wired wrongly”, with normal differences between people pathologised, she said.
She added that this created an “illness identity” that can remove agency and incentives for people to try to improve their lives.
But many mental health charities have taken issue with Streeting’s comments, with Mind warning that they risked stigmatising people.
Alexa Knight, director of England at the Mental Health Foundation, said: “It’s true that far too many people with mental health problems have been written off by a system that’s not well suited to helping them get better and back into work.
“But it would be wrong to attribute all of the rise in poor mental health to overdiagnosis of mental health problems. Instead, we should be looking at its root causes and how we tackle them, preventing people from developing poor mental health.”
She said increases in mental health problems are the result of austerity, the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.
Knight said: “Many of the building blocks of good mental health, like housing, a good income and community have been eroded in recent years – is it any wonder people are struggling?
“The solution now is not to stigmatise or minimise the experiences of people who are experiencing mental health problems. Instead, the UK government needs to recognise the deep mental health crisis we face and be honest about how we got to this point.”
square WELFARE ExplainedThe 20 most common conditions people claim PIP for
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Brian Dow, deputy chief executive of Rethink Mental Illness, said: “It’s all very well to talk about an overdiagnosis of mental health when for many people with long-term illness there is a tremendous struggle to get a diagnosis and appropriate treatment in the first place because of pressures in the system.
“The crisis in the nation’s mental health is very real and while we do need to distinguish between mental health problems which are common and moderate and give people the right support to ensure their health is not an obstacle to work, no one is in receipt of welfare benefits for a mental health condition who has not been diagnosed by an experienced health care professional.”
Olly Parker, head of external affairs at YoungMinds, said increases in the number of young people struggling with their mental health is an “international phenomenon” seen in other countries.
He said: “The numbers of young people waiting over a year for NHS support rose 55 per cent last year. The Government’s focus should be on getting those waiting lists down and making sure young people get the support they need to live happy and fulfilled lives.”
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