Lord Stevenson, the former chairman of HBOS, has co-written a report that he says has shocked him about the huge estimate of money mental health problems are costing this country.
In the past he has himself spoken about his own problems with depression at work. He said that the cost of “presenteeism”, where staff do less work because of mental health problems, could be one reason why Britain’s economic productivity was so poor.
The report concluded that it cost business up to £26billion a year, with absenteeism and staff turnover bringing the cost to between £33billion and £42billion.
Once benefits, lost tax and the cost of NHS treatment are factored in, mental health problems cost the economy between £74billion and £99billion a year, the report concludes.
Lord Stevenson said, “We thought we’d be saying [to bosses] you should be nice people. But actually we’re saying; ‘in your own economic interests you should have to do something about this.”