Prime minister Boris Johnson’s new Cabinet has been urged to alleviate UK plc’s mental health crisis through tax breaks for companies who provide support for workers.
Commenting on priorities for Johnson’s new Cabinet, Steve Ellis, head of employee benefit consulting at Prosperis, told Health & Protection that conversations with his clients have made it clear that improving the mental health of UK employees must be prioritised.
Ellis explained that he believed homeworking stifled creativity and increased loneliness for people forced to work from home for long periods.
With autumn approaching and the prospect of government implementing a Covid plan B – which could include encouraging people to work from home again – Ellis said government needed to think about how the mental health of homeworkers can effectively be supported.
“The government needs to look at how they incentivise employers to put the proper structures in place,” Ellis said.
“If the government could somehow incentivise employers; the NHS is a finite resource so they need to look at a tax break for employers who provide the mental health support.”
However, it appears mental health may not be a particularly important position for Johnson.
As Health & Protection revealed this morning, after the cabinet and ministerial reshuffle this week, the prime minister has yet to appoint a mental health minister to replace Nadine Dorries.