IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Next PM should revamp levelling up plans, to stop people with mental health problems being left behind in UK’s “inequality hotspots”

12 July 2022

• New research from the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute has exposed a worrying economic gap between people with mental health problems and the wider population in many parts of the UK — and warns that the current plans for ‘levelling up’ won’t fix it.

• The research reveals that Northern Ireland and the North West of England are the UK’s biggest ‘inequality hotspots’, where people with mental health problems are being left furthest behind.

• These inequalities are being driven by a toxic cocktail of problems accessing jobs, support services and housing for people with mental health problems in these regions.

• The research also shows that the existing plans for levelling up fail to recognise the inequalities that people with mental health problems experience in many parts of the UK. 

• Money and Mental Health is calling on the next Prime Minister to reset plans for levelling up, by putting people with mental health problems at the heart of this agenda. That means taking targeted action to tackle the challenges they face in accessing jobs, housing and services in the worst-performing regions.

• Failing to act now could mean that people with mental health problems will fall further behind as the cost of living crisis deepens.

Money and Mental Health’s research shows that people with mental health problems across the UK are more likely to be experiencing financial difficulty than the wider population. However, these disparities are significantly bigger in some parts of the UK than others.  

New analysis by the charity of nationally representative data (1) shows that the UK’s biggest “inequality hotspot” for people with mental health problems is Northern Ireland, where 72% of people with mental health problems say that keeping up with bills and credit repayments is a burden, compared to 52% of the rest of the province’s population. 

It is followed by the North West of England, where two-thirds of people with mental health problems (65%) are struggling compared to 47% of the wider population. 

At the other end of the scale, these disparities are much smaller in places like London and the West Midlands.

Money and Mental Health’s research shows that people with mental health problems are being left behind in places like Northern Ireland and the North West because of the difficulties they face accessing jobs, housing and support services.

Boris Johnson’s government pledged that its levelling up agenda would tackle regional inequalities and boost opportunities and prosperity for people in “left behind” places. But despite these promises, Money and Mental Health says that the existing levelling up plans fail to recognise or address the fact that people with mental health problems are being left behind in many parts of the UK.

The charity is calling on the next Prime Minister to re-evaluate the existing levelling up plans, and to ensure that this agenda does not overlook the inequalities that people with mental health problems face in many parts of the UK. Money and Mental Health’s specific recommendations include:

• The new government should track and publish how people with mental health problems are faring on crucial levelling up metrics like income, employment, housing affordability, waiting times and access to services. It should also provide incentives to local leaders in the worst-performing places to act on these issues. 
• The government should also introduce more specialist employment support for people with mental health problems, and make more of this group eligible for all concessionary travel schemes. Both these steps would better support people with mental health problems to access job opportunities.  
• Local leaders should take targeted action to address the specific issues in their areas which are putting people with mental health problems at greater risk of financial difficulty. This could include steps to make jobs and housing more accessible, or measures to make local mental health and money advice services more joined-up.

Commenting on the findings, Helen Undy, Chief Executive of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, said:

“For whoever leads the country in the coming years, ‘levelling up’ and improving life for those in left behind places is likely to be an important priority. Yet the current plans for levelling up completely ignore the left behind people within these places, including those with mental health problems. Our research has revealed shocking inequality hotspots where people with mental health problems are facing a toxic cocktail of high housing cots, a lack of job opportunities and poor access to services – with devastating financial and psychological consequences.

“The next Prime Minister should take the opportunity to revamp levelling up plans, and to ensure that they tackle the deep-seated problems people with mental health problems face in accessing jobs, housing and support in many parts of the country. We’re also calling on local leaders to address the specific issues in their areas which are putting people with mental health problems at greater risk of financial difficulty.

“Without urgent action, there is a very real risk that the levelling up agenda will result in people with poor mental health falling even further behind as the cost of living crisis deepens.”

ENDS

For media enquiries, please contact Brian Semple, Head of External Affairs at Money and Mental Health, on 07595 439 638 / 07935 216 804 or [email protected]