Information is power

Preventing financial difficulties associated with mental health problems

3 December 2019

This report explores how health professionals and others can better support people who are struggling with their mental health to avoid financial difficulty. In particular, it:

• Assesses existing efforts to inform people experiencing mental health problems about the links between mental illness and financial difficulty, including advice and support that is currently being offered within health settings
• Sets out some of the challenges professionals working in health and other sectors face in providing this kind of preventative support
• Considers opportunities to build on this prevention work, including through the adoption of a public health approach that aims to proactively reach out to people at risk of financial difficulty because of a mental health problem.

Key recommendations:

• The government should task GPs and others working across primary health care services with providing people with information about the link between mental health problems and financial difficulty, and signposting or referrals to local sources of support
• The Money and Pensions Service should work with Public Health England to develop and distribute a range of materials about the prevention of financial difficulty, which include a particular focus on the links between money and mental health problems.