Spotlight on Poverty: Mental Health

As part of BASW UK's campaign against poverty, each fortnight we will be focusing on a different part of social work practice and the impact of poverty.

Mental Health

Mental health and money problems are often intricately linked. Research shows that in England alone over 1.5 million people are experiencing both problem debt and mental health problems.

Managing finances can be difficult for everyone, especially when they’re on a low income. But for people who experiencing mental ill health, manging finances can feel extremely challenging. The pressure of finances can add to existing mental health illnesses, and it can also lead to people experiencing illnesses like anxiety for the first time.

Symptoms of mental illness can also make it harder to plan for the future, do ‘life admin’ such as paying bills, or also seek employment.

The Role of Social Workers

Social workers bring a distinctive social and rights-based perspective to their work. Their advanced relationship-based skills, and their focus on personalisation and recovery, can support people to make positive, self-directed change. Social workers are trained to work in partnership with people using services, their families and carers, to optimise involvement and collaborative solutions.

Social workers also manage some of the most challenging and complex risks for individuals and society and take decisions with and on behalf of people within complicated legal frameworks, balancing and protecting the rights of different parties. This includes, but is not limited to, their vital role as the core of the Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) workforce.

Impact of Poverty

Poverty can be both a cause and a consequence of mental health problems.

  • Around 40% of people in England who have overlapping problems including homelessness, substance misuse and contact with the criminal justice system in any given year also have a mental health problem.
  • People in the lowest socio-economic groups and living in the most deprived areas are up to 10 times more at risk of suicide than those in the most affluent groups and in the most affluent areas.
  • Across the UK, men and women in the poorest fifth of the population are twice as likely to be at risk of developing mental health problems as those on an average income. Unemployment and unstable employment are also both risk factors for mental health problems

Case Study 

Rachel is a 15 yr old girl who was admitted to hospital under the Mental Health Act. Rachel relies on her mother for emotional support and they have a very positive relationship. However, there have been recent tensions as Rachel’s mother is currently in debt and financial pressures have resulted in her seeking support in her own right for anxiety and depression. There was no bed available locally for Rachel and as a consequence she was admitted to a hospital which is 200 miles from her home.

Rachel’s mother cannot afford the transport costs to visit Rachel on a regular basis and they have been relying on online contact. Rachel was admitted as an emergency and has few of her personal items with her, including items which help her manage her anxieties. 

Rachel’s mother is not in a position to post items due to the costs. Rachel’s social worker has suggested she will pick some items up and take them on her next visit to Rachel, but this is likely to be a couple of weeks. Rachel’s mother is unable to maintain the internet service due to increasing costs and will instead need to use the wi-fi at a friend’s house to contact Rachel. Despite the goodwill of this friend, the conversations will not be private, and Rachel’s mother is really worried about how she will be able to support Rachel.

This compounds her own mental wellbeing and feelings that she has somehow let Rachel down. Rachel is growing increasingly isolated and feels like she will never get back home.

Calling for change

BASW UK has launched a campaign calling on the UK Government to provide greater support for those being hardest hit by poverty.

One of the campaign asks is to extend the debt breathing space scheme to 180 days. The breathing space scheme is a ‘pause’ on action and contact from creditors that also prevents interest, fees, penalties, or charges being added for a 60-day period. There is also a mental health breathing space that can last as long as the crisis treatment lasts plus 30 days. There were 6,342 Breathing Space registrations in October 2022, which is 31% higher than the number registered in October 2021. 6,230 were Standard breathing space registrations, which is 31% higher than in October 2021, and 112 were Mental Health breathing space registrations, which is 38% higher than the number in October 2021.

We have used information from Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, the NSPCC and Mind UK with citations listed in the spotlight: Mental Health Factsheet.