The cost of mental ill health in England was £300bn in 2022, according to new research.
The stark figure is nearly double the entire NHS budget for England that year (£155.5bn) and is comparable to the cost of the Covid pandemic in 2020.
Research by the Centre for Mental Health found that those living with mental ill health and their families footed most of the bill (£175bn), while £101bn fell to businesses and £25bn to the state.
For the first time in such a study, researchers analysed the wider costs of mental ill health, including presenteeism – productivity loss at work caused by illness – and high staff turnover.
The £300bn bill also includes ‘human costs’, in terms of reduced quality of life and wellbeing, and health and care costs.
Centre for Mental Health chief executive Andy Bell said: ‘A pound sign can never fully reflect the suffering caused by mental ill health.
‘But these figures signal an urgent need for the Government, and all political parties at the next election, to prioritise the public’s mental health.
‘This is like a pandemic happening every year. Inaction is not an option.’
The Centre for Mental Health and the NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network, which commissioned the study, have called for a 10-year mental health strategy.
