Mental health and safety at work: employer duties
Your employer's duty of care covers mental health as well as physical safety. What you can ask for when workload, bullying or unsafe shifts are making you ill.
Your employer’s duty of care includes your mental health. If understaffing, impossible targets or bullying are making you ill, the employer must assess the work-related risks and take action. You do not need a diagnosis before raising a stress risk. A wellbeing app is no answer to a care rota without cover or a warehouse target you cannot safely meet.
- 964k
- GB workers: work-related stress, depression or anxiety, 2024/25
- 22.1m
- GB days lost to stress, depression or anxiety, 2024/25
- 5+
- employees: record significant risk findings
- 6m − 1d
- usual GB deadline for relevant dates from October 2026
What is your employer’s duty of care for mental health?
Your employer cannot treat work-related stress as solely your problem to manage. The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 requires employers to protect employees’ health so far as reasonably practicable. That includes mental health.
Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires a suitable and sufficient assessment of risks to employees and others affected by the work. HSE says to assess work-related stress like any other health and safety risk. This is an existing duty, not a new rule introduced in 2026.
Even a business with four employees must assess the risks. At five or more, it must record the significant findings and any group especially at risk. It must review the assessment when it has reason to doubt its validity or there has been a significant change.
Mental health at work law: which Act protects you?
Workplace mental-health rights sit across several laws, not a single “Mental Health at Work Act”. If you searched for a “Mental Health at Work Act 2010”, the relevant workplace discrimination law in Great Britain is the Equality Act 2010. It does not replace your employer’s health and safety duties.
- Work is causing stress: the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require assessment and action on work-related risks. You do not have to show that you are disabled.
- Your condition is a disability: the Equality Act 2010 protects against disability discrimination and can require reasonable adjustments. The condition need not have been caused by work. See mental health and Equality Act rights below.
- Long hours and missed rest: the Working Time Regulations 1998 set limits and rest entitlements. See your rights to hours, breaks and leave.
- Your job is at risk: the Employment Rights Act 1996 provides dismissal protections for employees, subject to the rules for each claim. See mental-health absence and dismissal.
These are the Great Britain rules. Northern Ireland has separate health and safety and disability laws; the Equality Act 2010 does not apply there.
What to do if work is harming your mental health
- Keep a record you control. Note the date, the pressure, its effect on you, who you told and the reply. Keep rotas, messages and fit notes. Seek medical advice when you need it; you do not need to wait for a diagnosis to report a work-related risk.
- Put the concern in writing. Tell your manager what is happening and ask for a stress risk assessment. Name a practical change, such as cover for an understaffed shift, a manageable target or action on bullying.
- Ask for the findings and action. The employer should share the assessment results with workers. Ask what will change, who will do it and when it will be reviewed. If disability puts you at a substantial disadvantage, also ask for reasonable adjustments.
- Get someone on your side. Ask your safety representative or union for help: UNISON in care and health, Unite in hospitality, USDAW in retail, or GMB and IWGB in logistics and delivery. If you need advice, contact Acas, Citizens Advice or a local law centre.
- If nothing changes, get advice on the next route. You can raise a grievance and report a health and safety concern to HSE in Great Britain or HSENI in Northern Ireland. A regulator’s investigation is not a compensation claim. If discrimination or dismissal is involved, check the claim route and deadline promptly.
Example: a message about an unsafe workload
“The current workload is affecting my mental health. On [dates], [describe the staffing, targets or incidents] caused [describe the effect on you]. Please assess the work-related stress risks and share the findings and action plan. I am asking for [specific change]. Please tell me what action you will take and when we can review it.”
What should a work-related stress risk assessment cover?
Use the six areas in HSE’s Management Standards to describe what is going wrong. They are guidance, not a statutory checklist or a guarantee that an assessment is sufficient.
| Area | What it means | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| Demands | Workload, pace, hours, night work | Constant overtime, unmanageable caseloads |
| Control | How much say staff have in their work | Rigid scripts, no input on deadlines |
| Support | Management and peer backing, training | Absent line managers, no induction |
| Relationships | Bullying, harassment, conflict | Unchecked banter, customer abuse |
| Role | Whether people know what is expected | Clashing objectives, unclear responsibilities |
| Change | How employers handle restructures and new systems | Reorganisations without explanation, hybrid imposed overnight |
A care worker cannot safely finish visits when travel time is missing. A retail worker may face abuse without backup; a cleaner may work alone without a check-in. Ask whether the assessment covers the pressure in your actual job, rather than a generic list of hazards.
HSE’s Talking Toolkit can help you prepare for the conversation. Ask to see the findings and action plan. A restructure, a switch to hybrid working or a rise in stress-related absence may mean the assessment needs another look.
Mental health in the workplace policy: what can you ask for?
Ask for the employer’s health and safety policy, the stress risk-assessment findings and any mental-health or sickness policy that applies to you. In Great Britain, an employer with five or more employees must have a written health and safety policy and bring it to employees’ attention. That is not the same as a requirement for a separate policy called a “mental health policy”. The duty to assess stress applies even below that threshold.
Use any workplace mental-health policy to find out who you can tell, how to request changes, what sickness arrangements apply and who will act if your manager is the problem. Put your request in writing and ask for a reply about your workload or treatment. A link to counselling does not answer that request.
Home and hybrid workers are covered
The risk-assessment duty covers people working from home. HSE also expects employers to assess display-screen-equipment risks for home workstations.
Include isolation, messages that arrive at all hours and meetings that leave too little time to finish the work in your written concern. A switch to hybrid work may require the employer to review the assessment, although the location change alone does not prove a breach. See our guide to health and safety for home and hybrid workers.
Mental health and work rights under the Equality Act 2010
Stress is not itself a medical diagnosis. But anxiety or depression may be a disability under the Equality Act 2010 if a mental impairment has a substantial, long-term adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities. The stress risk-assessment duty applies whether or not anyone has a diagnosis.
Long-term means an effect that has lasted, or is likely to last, at least 12 months. Recurring conditions can qualify even when symptoms come and go; see Schedule 1 to the Equality Act.
Where the employer knows, or could reasonably be expected to know, of a disability and a substantial disadvantage at work, it must make reasonable adjustments. That duty can apply whether or not work caused your condition. Discrimination arising from disability, direct discrimination and harassment are separate potential claims. A diagnosis alone does not decide which claim succeeds; read our Equality Act guide.
Ask for a specific change and explain the disadvantage it addresses. An earlier shift, for example, may allow treatment without losing pay. An employer need not accept every proposal, but should consider workable alternatives. Since 6 April 2024 employees can also request flexible working from day one, twice in 12 months. The usual decision period is two months and an employer must consult before refusal. That procedure does not replace the adjustments duty.
Does the mental-health duty cover bullying and harassment?
Bullying is a stress risk whether or not it relates to a protected characteristic. Where it does not, there is no general standalone employment tribunal claim for “bullying”; other routes may apply, including a grievance, constructive dismissal or a psychiatric-injury claim if its legal tests are met. See what to do about bullying.
Sexual harassment is different. Great Britain employers have had to take reasonable steps to prevent it since October 2024. A requirement to take all reasonable steps is scheduled for 30 October 2026, along with an obligation not to permit harassment of employees by third parties such as customers or patients. These changes are not yet in force. Customer abuse can still be a work-related stress risk that your employer must assess now. See our guide to sexual harassment at work.
Mental health at work: your rights to hours, breaks and leave
Rest helps control excessive workload. Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, the usual limit is a 48-hour average working week, normally measured over 17 weeks, with a voluntary opt-out. The usual rest entitlements include 11 consecutive hours of daily rest, 24 hours of weekly rest or 48 hours per fortnight, and a 20-minute break when the working day exceeds six hours. Workers generally have 5.6 weeks’ statutory paid holiday. Night workers have additional limits and a right to free health assessments. See working-time limits and rest breaks.
An “unlimited leave” policy must still deliver the statutory minimum. Employers cannot normally pay in lieu of that minimum until employment ends; see how unlimited leave policies work.
Sick pay for mental-health absence
Since 6 April 2026, eligible employees off sick with stress, anxiety or another illness can get Statutory Sick Pay at the lower of £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, for up to 28 weeks. The lower earnings limit and three waiting days have been removed. Payment starts with full qualifying days normally worked, not for a day on which the person works part of a shift.
Example: two weeks off sick
Assume Amara and Ben are eligible and each takes a full two-week absence. Amara earns £400 a week. Her 80% rate is £320, so SSP is £123.25 a week, or £246.50 for two weeks. Ben earns £120 a week. His 80% rate is £96, so he receives £192 across two weeks. He would have fallen below the old £125 earnings threshold. Contractual sick pay may pay more. See the SSP guide.
Can you be dismissed for stress-related absence?
Yes, a prolonged absence can lead to a fair capability dismissal, but an employer must assess the circumstances rather than dismiss because of a diagnosis. If the employee is disabled, it must consider reasonable adjustments; treatment of absence may also amount to disability discrimination. Compensation for discrimination is not subject to the ordinary unfair dismissal compensatory cap.
Ask what medical or occupational-health evidence the employer has, whether you have been consulted, what adjustments were tried and whether alternatives to dismissal were considered. A sudden capability hearing after months of silence is a warning sign. See dismissal because of illness and discipline while off sick.
Great Britain employees who reasonably believe they face serious and imminent danger may be protected if they take the steps described in section 44 or section 100 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Automatically unfair dismissal under section 100 has no qualifying service period; not every experience of stress meets the serious-and-imminent-danger test. Ordinary unfair dismissal generally still requires two years’ service. A reduction to six months for dismissals from 1 January 2027, and removal of the ordinary compensatory cap, are scheduled but not yet in force.
Do agency workers and other workers have mental-health rights?
In Great Britain, section 2 of the 1974 Act protects employees; section 3 addresses risks that a business’s activities pose to others, including agency workers and contractors. Regulation 3 requires employers to assess risks to both employees and other people affected by their work. Your protection depends on the work and your status. A contract label does not decide it.
| Status | Health and safety | Disability protection | Ordinary unfair dismissal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employee | Employer duties under s.2 and reg 3 | Equality Act, if criteria met | Usually after two years’ service now |
| Worker | Risks from the business’s activities assessed | Often covered by Equality Act | Not unless also an employee |
| Agency worker | Risks on assignment assessed | May claim against agency or hirer | Only if an employee |
| Self-employed contractor | Business must assess risks it creates for them | Depends on personal-work contract | No, if genuinely self-employed |
Before an assignment, ask the agency and hirer what health and safety risks have been identified and who deals with them. Workload and customer abuse do not stop being risks because somebody works through an agency. For status questions see employment status and agency worker rights.
Can you sue over work-related stress?
HSE, local authorities or HSENI can investigate breaches of health and safety law and issue notices. A prosecution does not award you damages.
An employee or worker may have a discrimination claim in an employment tribunal. An employee may also have an unfair or constructive dismissal claim.
To claim psychiatric-injury damages in negligence in a civil court, you must prove that the injury was reasonably foreseeable and that the employer failed to take reasonable care. See suing for work-related stress.
Under Hatton v Sutherland and Barber v Somerset County Council, what the employer knew matters. A written report of symptoms, repeated warnings about workload or an obvious deterioration can put the employer on notice, but do not automatically establish liability.
For advice, contact Acas, your union, Citizens Advice or a local law centre. If discrimination is involved, the Equality and Human Rights Commission can explain the equality-law route; a report to the Commission does not pause a tribunal deadline. Acas early conciliation is required before most tribunal claims.
For most Great Britain tribunal claims, the usual limit is six months minus one day where the claim’s relevant date falls on or after 1 October 2026. The relevant date depends on the claim: it may be the act, failure, dismissal or end of conduct. Earlier relevant dates remain under the old rules; the change does not revive an expired claim. Notify Acas within the applicable limit. Early conciliation pauses the clock, but you must check the exact deadline for your claim. A separate court claim for personal injury has different limitation rules.
Stress alone is not a reportable injury or disease under RIDDOR. Keep your own record: requests for assessment, dates of warnings, fit notes, proposed adjustments and the employer’s replies.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
The Great Britain health and safety rules, Working Time Regulations and Equality Act discussed above apply in England, Wales and Scotland. Scotland’s tribunal procedure and court routes differ in places; the six-month change for certain Scottish employment contract claims takes effect on 9 November 2026, not 1 October.
Northern Ireland has parallel health and safety duties under the Health and Safety at Work (NI) Order 1978 and Management Regulations (NI) 2000, enforced by HSENI and district councils. Disability law there rests on the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, not the Equality Act 2010. The April 2026 SSP reforms extend to Northern Ireland, but the Employment Rights Act 2025 extends six-month claim limits there only for certain industrial tribunal claims; do not assume the Great Britain deadline applies to an NI disability claim. The October harassment reforms described here are Great Britain measures. See employment law in Northern Ireland.
What changed and what comes next
- SSP reform in force
No lower earnings limit or waiting days; weekly rate is the lower of £123.25 or 80% of average earnings.
- Longer GB claim limits in force
Six months for most claims where the relevant act or date is on or after this date; older acts remain under previous rules. Scottish contract claims have a later start.
- Harassment reform scheduled
All reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment and a new third-party harassment obligation in Great Britain, subject to commencement.
- Dismissal reform scheduled
Six months’ service for ordinary unfair dismissal for dismissals from this date, and no ordinary compensatory cap, subject to commencement.
Mental health at work: your questions answered
Does my employer have a duty of care for my mental health?
Yes. In Great Britain, the duty to protect employees’ health so far as reasonably practicable includes mental health. Your employer must assess work-related stress risks and act on the findings. You do not need a diagnosis or a qualifying disability before it must assess the risk. Northern Ireland has parallel health and safety duties.
Is there a Mental Health at Work Act 2010?
The workplace disability law you are looking for in Great Britain is the Equality Act 2010, not a “Mental Health at Work Act 2010”. Anxiety or depression can qualify as a disability if the legal test is met. Separately, the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Management Regulations require assessment and action on work-related stress, whether or not you are disabled.
Does my employer need a mental health in the workplace policy?
In Great Britain, five or more employees triggers the duty to have a written health and safety policy, not a separate document with that title. Your employer must assess work-related stress regardless of size and record significant findings at five or more employees. A mental-health policy or counselling service does not replace assessment and action.
Can anxiety or depression count as a disability?
Yes, if a mental impairment has a substantial, long-term adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities. Long-term means the effect has lasted or is likely to last at least 12 months. A recurring condition may qualify between episodes. Work does not have to have caused the condition for Equality Act protection to apply.
Can you ask for home working or different hours for mental health?
An employee may make a statutory flexible-working request from day one. If disability puts you at a substantial disadvantage, a change of hours or location may also be a reasonable adjustment. Explain the obstacle and the change you propose. The employer need not accept every proposal, but should consider workable alternatives.
Does your employer have to provide a counsellor or mental-health first aider?
There is no general legal requirement to appoint a mental-health first aider or offer an employee assistance programme. Employers still have to assess and address work-related health risks. Sending you to counselling does not remove the duty to deal with harmful working conditions.
Sources
- Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, s.2, legislation.gov.uk
- Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, s.3, legislation.gov.uk
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, reg.3, legislation.gov.uk
- Stress risk assessment, HSE
- Management Standards, HSE
- Great Britain key figures 2024/25, HSE
- Working days lost, HSE
- Equality Act 2010, s.6, legislation.gov.uk
- Equality Act 2010, Sch.1, legislation.gov.uk
- Mental health reasonable adjustments, Acas
- Working Time Regulations 1998, legislation.gov.uk
- Statutory Sick Pay: what you’ll get, GOV.UK
- Employment Rights Act 1996, s.44, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, s.100, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 2025 commencement and transitional provisions, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act timeline update (25 September 2026), GOV.UK
- Health and Safety at Work (NI) Order 1978, art.4, legislation.gov.uk
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (NI) 2000, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 2025, s.152 (NI extent), legislation.gov.uk
- Work-related stress in Britain’s workplaces: safety representatives survey, TUC, 5 January 2026
- HSE Annual Report and Accounts 2024/25, executive summary, GOV.UK