The Work and Pensions Secretary has said that Britain's "open approach to mental health" may have gone too far. Mel Stride said that work was good for people's mental health, as he unveiled plans to get 150,000 people signed off work with mild conditions back into a job.Millions of working age people in the UK are out of work due to sickness, with the number increasing markedly since the pandemic.
But he said things may have swung too far the other way, and people may be "convincing themselves they have some kind of serious mental health condition as opposed to the normal anxieties of lifeHe added: “If they go to the doctor and say ‘I’m feeling rather down and bluesy’, the doctor will give them on average about seven minutes and then, on 94 per cent of occasions, they will be signed off as not fit to carry out any work whatsoever,” he added.