Supporting Clients through

Welfare Reform

Welfare Reform and mental health

Welfare Reform Bill

• Incapacity Benefit reassessed by April 2013– Employment Support Allowance– Jobseekers Allowance

• Simplified system…Universal Credit• Do it on-line• Monthly payments…into bank account• ‘Bedroom Tax’

Poverty and stress

Stress influences hormone levels, such as cortisol, which influence blood pressure, cholesterol levels and inflammation causing physical problems:– Cardiovascular system– Neuro-endocrine system– Immune system – Memory loss

Poverty and poor mental health

• Higher rates of psychiatric

admissions and suicides• More likely to be suffering

from clinical depression,

anxiety and phobias

Poverty as a cause and consequence of mental health problems

• Housing• Environment• Education • Employment• Behaviours – smoking, eating, activity,

substance use

Weich and Lewis (1998)

‘financial strain is a powerful independent predictor of both the onset and maintenance of episodes of common mental disorders, even after adjusting for more objective measures of standard of living.’

Inequalities

‘Inequalities in income encourage suspicion, distrust and hostility and therefore limit social integration and participation. Within western societies, income is a marker for social status.’

‘Inequality is a pollutant because it affects everyone. People trust each other less in more unequal societies. And the prevalence of mental illness is much more acute in countries with high income inequality.’

Richard Wilkinson