The King’s Speech - what it means for mental health

Today we saw the much anticipated King’s Speech where the new government outlines its priorities for the next year to 18 months. There were a couple of announcements in the speech today that caught our attention. 

Firstly, within the mass of legislation that was announced (including over 30 Bills) the government committed to ensuring, “mental health was given the same attention and focus as physical health”, with specific pledges on improving mental health provision for young people and modernising the Mental Health Act. 

These announcements are hugely welcome – as is the focus on mental health parity with physical health. We are pleased to see the government prioritising mental health right from the outset of its time in office.

When looking at the reform of the Mental Health Act we have a few ideas as well – particularly for those who are accessing treatment through secondary mental health services during times of acute ill-mental health. With seven in ten people experiencing an income drop while in  secondary mental health services, we want to see more joined-up money and mental health support. This should include routine screening for financial difficulties in those services, as well as an automatic offer of Mental Health Crisis Breathing Space for those detained under longer term sections of the Act.

You can read more about the changes we’d like to see in our blog on reforming the Mental Health Act here. You can also read what we thought about the draft Mental Health Bill when it was published by the last government in our blog here.

Secondly, the government also committed to measures which will help people stay in work when they’ve been unwell – and to go back into employment. In its Employment Reform Bill the government committed to changes to Statutory Sick Pay which include it being available from day one and extending it to workers on lower incomes (who were previously excluded). That  enacts recommendations that we made to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee last year. We’ve been campaigning on this issue for six years so it’s great to see changes finally put in place!

Looking at wider reform to employment support, we would want to see specific support for those of us living with mental health problems and the removal of barriers to employment for them – this was a priority in the five steps we set out for the new government to take to boost financial inclusion and protect mental health. 

People living with mental health problems face specific barriers to employment including a lack of tailored support that really understands mental health and a cliff-edge of benefits if a job doesn’t work out. To make any support back into employment meaningful for people with mental health problems, we suggest reforms such as specialist mental health work coaches in Job Centres, as well as allowing benefits to be restarted for up to a year after taking a job. We believe these changes could really make a difference to the lives of people experiencing mental health problems.