On Mental Health Awareness Week 2026, the role of early intervention and prevention has been emphasised as key to protect wellbeing, in keeping with this year’s theme of ‘take action’.
In 2025, 17.1 million working days were lost to mental health-related sickness absence, representing one of the primary causes of workplace absenteeism in the UK, according to recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Mental health problems have been a key driver of the UK's rising long-term sickness, with millions of employees taking extended time off work due to stress, anxiety and depression. Of the 17.1m lost working days last year, mental health accounted for 10.2% of all sickness days among women, compared with 7.3% of all sickness days among men. Mental h...
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