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Poor mental health now costs UK employers £51 billion a year, says Deloitte

Deloitte's 2024 UK survey puts a £51 billion price tag on poor workplace mental health and finds most staff showing at least one sign of burnout, which is relevant if any of your clients happen to have a job. This includes practices like yours.

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Practices helping people cope with work stress can now point to a number large enough to make an HR director sit up, which is more than can usually be said for a testimonial.

Original ResearchA large-scale look at what unmanaged mental health and unsupported working parents are quietly costing UK businesses.
Sourcehttps://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/services/consulting/research/mental-health-and-employers-the-case-for-employers-to-invest-in-supporting-working-parents-and-a-mentally-health-workplace.html
OverviewDeloitte UK surveyed the workforce and modelled the financial fallout of poor mental health, with a particular eye on working parents.
Year2024
PublisherBrand, Deloitte UK
Relevance to WellbeingIt is a macro, employer-facing figure rather than a consumer stat, so it works better as a credibility prop for B2B pitches than a line to put on an Instagram tile.
Our VerdictToo early to tell Solid enough to quote in a proposal, not solid enough to build your whole pitch on.
Our Summary
  • A named, well-known publisher gives the figure some borrowed credibility.
  • The 63% burnout finding gives you a second, more human stat to pair with the big scary one.
  • It is about employers and workplaces, not therapy rooms or studios, so the leap to your services needs spelling out.
  • Deloitte has its own consulting services to sell, so the report is not exactly neutral.
Our Geo ViewFigures and cost estimates are specific to the UK employment market; treat the numbers as illustrative rather than transferable elsewhere.
Abstract of wellbeing niches and revenue flow
Recognise how this might impact your practice

Why this might matter to you

  • Coaching: this matters because a burnout coaching package is easier to sell once someone else has put a price tag on ignoring the problem.
  • Therapy: this matters because clients arriving via work stress can now be told, gently, that their employer's accountants agree it is a real cost.
  • Training: this matters because workplace wellbeing workshops stop looking like a nice-to-have and start looking like risk management.
  • Alternative Healing: this matters because "reduces stress" claims land better next to a headline figure than floating alone.
  • Clinical: this matters because referral partners in corporate settings respond to numbers, not vibes.
  • Retreat/Centre: this matters because corporate away-days are easier to pitch when burnout has a price attached.

Where this came from

Deloitte UK worked out what poor mental health and unsupported working parents are actually costing British employers, and the number was big enough to publish.

Deloitte UK, 2024. Full report available directly from Deloitte, not paywalled.

Methodology disclosed as a workforce survey combined with economic modelling; sample size not specified in the summary materials; publisher is a professional services firm reporting on its own research.

How we scored this

A relevance score out of 100, built from three things: how well it fits the six practice types, how recent it is, and how solid the methodology behind it is.

64%
Practice fit, 50How new, 70How solid, 75

Marked down slightly on how directly it fits the six practice types, since it speaks to employers rather than individual clients, but held up by being reasonably recent and coming from a name people recognise, even if the method itself is more modelled than independently verified.

Faces of satisfied clients
It's worth considering changes to your marketing practices

What this means for your marketing

  • Put the £51 billion figure in any pitch or proposal aimed at HR contacts or corporate wellbeing budgets.
  • Say the words "burnout" and "cost to business" in the same sentence when talking to referral partners, not just to clients.
  • Brief your team on the 63% burnout stat so nobody is caught flat-footed when a client mentions it first.
  • Keep this one out of consumer-facing social posts; it reads better in a document with a logo on it.
  • Pair it with a client story so the big number has a human face attached.

Who this is most useful for

Practice typeRelevanceRecommended action
CoachingMediumUse in corporate coaching pitches, not solo client marketing.
TherapyMediumReference when discussing workplace-related referrals.
TrainingHighLead workplace training proposals with this figure.
Alternative HealingLowUse sparingly, mostly for corporate wellness day pitches.
ClinicalMediumKeep on file for referral partner conversations.
Retreat/CentreMediumUse when pitching corporate retreats or team offsites.

Best before

Best before: Deloitte tends to revisit this territory periodically; check back with Deloitte UK in a year or two for an updated figure before quoting this one as current.

What next?

Every practice owner who has watched a client burn out quietly at their desk will recognise the gap this report is pointing at.

Talk to us about Whole-practice Marketing

Therapy Space

Well. Here We Are At The Bottom.

The best practitioners always find their way here. We have a story garden, a listening wind and a visual river waiting to make sense of themselves - they do, beautifully, in a twenty-five-minute conversation over a good coffee. How do you take it?

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