Government Failing Mental Health Sufferers

Mental health sufferers in Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire aren't being given the right support to go back into work.

A new study's found that only 5% of people with mental health problems in our region are being supported back into employment through the Government's Work Programme.

The report, carried out by the charity Mind, also shows that in the last three years, no one with mental health issues in Beverley and Holderness and Haltemprice and Howden has benefitted from the scheme.

Tom Pollard is from Mind and told Viking FM:

"In some particular areas like Beverley and Holderness and Haltemprice and Howden, nobody had been supported through that scheme to get back into work which is obviously quite worrying. Overall in Yorkshire, around 5% of people with mental health problems were being supported back into work through the work programme, compared to about 20% of people without a health condition.

"What we're seeing is people getting fairly generic support through these schemes, so things like CV writing classes rather than specialist support which we think people need. People with mental health problems often aren't out of work because they don't want to work, it's about their condition and also whether they can find a job where the employer will support them and understand their mental health condition so we want to see support that's really built around those needs.

"Mind is calling for a new specialist scheme for people with mental health problems and we want to see that scheme built around advisors who have real expertise and understanding of mental health who can work with that person over a period of time to really understand what their barriers are and create a package of support that is suited to them.

"Schemes like the Work Programme are really focused on making people do things and if they don't do it, they lose their benefit. The result of that is that we've gone from about 500 santions every month to around 5000 sanctions a month but also an increasing proportion of those sanctions have fallen on people with mental health problems and we think that's another sign that this scheme doesn't support mental health sufferers."