New research has found that just under a third of sickness absences among social care workers are linked to stress and poor wellbeing.
Data collated by the British Psychological Society (BPS) reveals that 30% of the 500,021 sick days taken by social workers were due to mental health issues such as stress and work-related anxiety.
Figures also show that, from April 2022 until the end of March this year, a total of 1.6 million working days were lost due to sickness among children’s and adult social care staff, across 114 local authorities. For more than three quarters of these councils, stress and other mental health problems were the most common cause for social care workers to be absent.
Leaders in care must invest in managing stress
The BPS warned that these high levels of staff absences came “against a backdrop of a debilitating recruitment and retention crisis, unmanageable workloads and soaring local authority spending on agency social care staff.”
They said that leaders in the health and social care sector “simply can’t afford not to invest in staff wellbeing if they wish to retain staff, recruit new talent, and provide the effective, safe services people deserve.”
They called for long-term funding for dedicated mental health and wellbeing support for health and social care staff.
It comes as 15 of 42 NHS Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hubs have closed following the end of government funding in March. The hubs provided mental health support for health and social care staff, and the BPS are currently campaigning to save them.
The BPS’ findings of high levels of stress within the workforce were supported by the British Association of Social Workers’ annual survey.
The survey reported that three quarters (74%) of social workers struggled to finish all their work within their contracted hours and that they were worried about a lack of funding and staff recruitment and retention issues.
Although the majority (61%) said they were happy in their role, most had seen their caseload increase and reported that the high demands of the job were being made worse by the cost-of-living-crisis.
Managing stress a must-have for care sector
Positive measures for sustaining and promoting good mental health at work are a must-have for any sector zeroing in on issues such as recruitment, retention and developing a positive workplace culture; sectors such as adult social care.
Social workers and the adult social care workforce operate in an environment that can often be stressful and sometimes uncertain; care workers need to be able to adapt and change to meet the needs of a sector beset with challenges.
In addition, building and maintaining positive relationships with others is central to their role, as is dealing with a range of emotions and emotional situations. Staff need to be mentally healthy to deal with all of these requirements and continue to deliver safe, compassionate and dignified care.
There are many simple but significant ways in which leaders and managers in care can support their staff to maintain positive mental health at work. These include:
- Creating a culture of openness where mental health issues are regularly discussed in an inclusive, non-judgmental way
- Encouraging staff to be aware of their mental state, be mindful and ensure that they have a good work/life balance – that they regularly take their breaks and mainly work only within their contracted hours
- Providing training in mental health so staff have a greater awareness and understanding and can offer help and support to each other
- Sharing information, such as places to go for support and tips for managing mental health
- Seeking advice and support for themselves – managers should ensure they’re well educated on mental health and would know how to identify a staff member who may be experiencing issues and how best to help them
Vital training in mental health
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading national training provider delivering courses in subjects such as health and safety, first aid, fire safety, manual handling, food safety, mental health, health and social care and more.
An accredited Mindful Employer themselves, FRT’s specialist mental health training courses include Understanding Mental Health, Mental Health Awareness in the Workplace, Managing Stress, Anxiety and Phobias Awareness, Self-Harm Awareness and Suicide Awareness.
They can also provide qualified, approved trainers to deliver accredited Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training courses, including the Adult, Youth and Lite versions.
A trainer from FRT says:
“Health and social care workers do a vital but very difficult job, facing many challenges. They often work long hours and their roles can have an emotional impact.
“It’s important that everyone in the sector – at all levels – is aware of the risks of work-related mental health problems and that there is significant focus and an investment of time and money into supporting the mental health of care workers.”
Helpful resources
A brief summary of our mental health training can now be downloaded as an infographic.
We also have a number of free infographics available to download which provide simple tips for helping to manage stress and anxiety. These include:
- Manage Your Stress
- Anxiety Factsheet
- Manage Your Anxiety
- Managing Panic Attacks
- Support Your Mental Health
You can also download our free Guide to Mental Health Training from our website.
For more information on the training that FRT can provide, please call them today on freephone 0800 310 2300 or send an e-mail to info@firstresponsetraining.com.
Tuesday 19th September 2023 is 
To mark Youth Mental Health Day, they are encouraging people to join in the conversation on social media and share the ways in which they are going to #BeBrave today to combat the stigma surrounding anxiety and mental health.
Youth Mental Health Day started when the UK was in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic and stem4 says that this as well as ongoing issues like global warming, political conflict and the cost-of-living crisis have contributed to worsening mental health among children and young people.
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading national training provider delivering courses in subjects such as health and safety, first aid, fire safety, manual handling, food hygiene, mental health, health and social care, safeguarding and more.
The world’s leading professional health and safety body spoke out as 
IOSH says that many suicide prevention strategies relate to the world of work.
The professional body offers a range of useful resources for businesses and employers, such as 
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading national training provider delivering courses in subjects such as 
The world’s largest professional health and safety body says the benefits of flexible work patterns also include “healthier and more sustainable lives” for workers and “lower absenteeism or presenteeism” for companies.
IOSH believes that flexible work patterns should be made available to all employees in all industries from the first day they start a job.
First Response Training is a leading national training provider. They deliver a wide range of training in 
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Although, in general, respondents felt that schools were performing well overall, pupil mental health was the main concern for parents of school-aged children, with just under half (45%) saying they were worried about this.
However, when asked to rate the quality of British schools in specific criteria, the public were less positive about how well they were addressing issues such as pupil mental health (27%) and staff wellbeing (24%).
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading national training provider delivering courses in subjects such as 
Samaritans Awareness Day falls on the 24th July (24/7) each year to highlight the fact that the national charity helpline is there to listen to people 24 hours a day, 7 days a week throughout the year.
People can join in the conversation and help raise awareness by posting on social media with the hashtag #TalkToUs or #SamaritansAwarenessDay. The Samaritans also have 
The Samaritans carry out a lot of work to influence 
An accredited Mindful Employer themselves, FRT’s specialist mental health training courses include 
The confidential charity helpline for children said that almost 2,000 children contacted them to talk about exam stress last year as formal exams returned following the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.
Almost half (44%) of the counselling sessions delivered regarding exam stress took place in April, May and June last year ahead of the GCSE and A Level examination periods.
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading national training provider delivering courses in subjects such as 
Anxiety is one of the most common mental health problems experienced by people. It can be sparked by worries such as exam pressures, relationship problems, starting a new job or losing one, or other major life events.
A recent study conducted by the Mental Health Foundation found that more than a third of UK adults feel anxious about their financial situation amid the current cost-of-living crisis. Further, a quarter said that they felt so anxious about their personal finances that it had prevented them from doing the things they wanted to do, at least part of the time.
Alexa Knight, Director of England at the Mental Health Foundation, says the theme was chosen “to kickstart a nationwide conversation, encouraging people to share their own experiences and any helpful ideas on how they manage anxiety.”
When anxious feelings become strong, distressing, long-lasting or frequent, they may represent a mental health problem.
Although there are lots of positive strategies that people can utilise to try to manage their anxiety and look after their mental health, the Mental Health Foundation emphasises the fact that “much of what may trigger anxiety is not within our control.”
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading national training provider delivering courses in subjects such as 
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Participants can sign up through 
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading national training provider delivering courses in subjects such as 
The HSE has taken steps to remove outdated content from its guidance regarding violence and aggression at work and replace it with up-to-date practical guidance. This includes 
The watchdog also identifies 
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading national training provider delivering courses in subjects such as 
Britain’s health and safety watchdog is working with a number of partners, including 
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That’s why initiatives such as HSE’s Working Minds campaign are so important. It encompasses free resources such as posters, a podcast and an app.
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading national training provider delivering courses in subjects such as 
That’s why, this year, the Stress Management Society has decided to move beyond its usual goal of opening up the conversation about stress and its effects to focus on taking action. They want people to go farther than talking and campaigning and, instead, take personal responsibility for creating a positive change.
One initiative launched by the group is ‘The 30-day Challenge.’ This encourages individuals to pick one action to carry out each day for their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.
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The world’s largest occupational safety and health (OSH) body has responded to a 
Backing the prevention-first approach, IOSH also urged the Commission to improve support for “governments, workplaces and communities to help people with mental health conditions to participate in and thrive at work.”
They told the consultation that micro, small and medium-sized businesses often lack dedicated human resource or occupational health and safety functions, and this “impacts their ability to promote positive mental health and take preventative action.”
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The campaign comes in the wake of new Childline data which reveals that the free, confidential helpline is contacted an average of 15 times each day by children struggling with loneliness.
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