Post-pandemic, a growing number of Londoners are being sidelined by health conditions that limit their ability to work, with mental health issues emerging as the leading factor.
Yan, 31, was diagnosed with ADHD, complex PTSD, borderline personality disorder and body dysmorphia when she was 27 and went through a painful process of figuring out why she struggled with work.
She faced difficulties with punctuality, meeting deadlines, and being unable to leave the house to go to work which she said made it difficult to keep a job.
Yan said: “There would be a lot of anxiety around it as well, because, you know, I knew I wasn’t, like, physically unwell, but clearly I wasn’t okay because I was really anxious.
“There’s a lot of shame around it.”
In one job, she said she was the only one in her team to not get a promotion which came down to her mental health issues.
She added: “They said ‘hey, yeah, because you’ve had challenges’, which obviously was really demoralizing for me, because I was struggling and I was trying my best, and obviously I wasn’t getting the support I had been asking for.”
After a request for occupational therapy and more time to work at home was ignored by her employer, she raised a grievance about how she was treated.
She said: “They actually put me more in harm’s way, because around this time I was actually quite suicidal.”
Yan claimed there needs to be changes made in the workforce to help people suffering from these conditions and she would like to see staff be more equipped to handle those situations throughout workplaces.
She added: “That needs to happen from the top and through policy changes.”
In 2023, 15% of working-age Londoners had a work-limiting health condition, according to a Greater London Authority (GLA) paper published in February.
It revealed a staggering rise from 750,000 in 2020 to 916,000 in 2023, a 22% spike.
Rachel Suff, senior wellbeing adviser at the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, said: “This has been driven by several reasons, including long NHS waiting lists for diagnosis and treatment and an increase in people experiencing poor mental health.
“Across the UK, and since the pandemic, there has been a steady increase in the number of people not in work because of long-term sickness.”
Suff said an in-house report they published in 2023 had similar findings, showing that mental health issues, including depression or anxiety, were the top cause of long-term absence in organisations, with musculoskeletal issues in second place.
Back in 2014, musculoskeletal conditions were the top work-limiting issue in London, affecting 232,000 people, compared to 146,000 facing mental health challenges.
But the latest data published by GLA shows a dramatic difference.
In 2022, mental health was the predominant work-limiting condition affecting 236,000 working-age Londoners, more than any other condition.
This is a 62% increase from 2014, now impacting 4% of working-age Londoners.
Suff said: “The cost of sickness absence to businesses is significant, and long-term absence can have a knock-on impact on other team members’ workloads, engagement and wellbeing.
“Typically, the longer someone is off sick, the harder it can be for them to return, so having supportive and proactive absence management policies in place can help to retain valued employees.”
The Health Foundation has taken on this issue and is calling on the government to scale up the use of caseworkers to help people access joined-up support across health, housing and employment.
Policy and Research Manager Sam Atwell said: “Mental ill-health is the main reason for rising long-term sickness among young people and is having a growing impact on the workforce.
“There are many potential drivers of rising mental ill-health, including financial pressures, especially in more deprived areas, increasing awareness and understanding of mental health, and broader cultural changes such as social media use and reduced autonomy for young people.”
GLA data shows that young adults are being hit hardest.
In 2022, 119,000 Londoners aged 16–34 had a mental health condition limiting their ability to work, more than double the figure from 2014.
There are three and a half times more 16–34-year-olds affected by this problem than those aged 55–64 in London.
While young people have consistently been more likely to experience work-limiting health conditions compared to older age groups, the rates have soared in recent years.
In 2014, only 60,000 16-34-year-old Londoners had mental health conditions preventing them from working.
YoungMinds, a mental health charity for young people, has set out to fight this issue.
Olly Parker, Head of External Affairs and Research, said: “Growing up today is incredibly tough.
“Many young people are experiencing multiple pressures which impact their mental health, including poverty, inequality, intense academic pressure, and the online world, so it’s no wonder so many are struggling.
He warns that failing to act will increase the pressure on the welfare system and other public services, leading to more expensive, long-term consequences and leaving young people without the support they need to lead healthy and productive lives.
“Currently, mental health support is a postcode lottery, and many young people face long waits, often becoming more unwell before they can access help.”
Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash
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