A workplace duty of care exists in UK law for mental health. But it is not treated the same as physical health and safety by employers. That duty of care fails too many people.

The Whole Person Mental Health motion and policy paper coming to the 2026 Lib Dem Spring Conference in York does not address this. 

The paper is full of great policy and has my support. There is a gap where mental health at work should be. But we have a great platform. I hope our party can keep building on this paper where the current government which is unlikely to. 

We may help form a government after the next general election. Having a clear ready-to-go duty of care policy for mental health in the workplace could be so powerful for so many.

There are too many heartbreaking stories. And statistically, Mental Health First Aid England cite that four in ten experience high stress during the day. Deloitte found 77% experience burnout.

One friend had a seizure two years ago, attributed by doctors to work-related stress. Thank goodness he managed to stop his bike and pull over before the worst effects hit. I won’t go into personal or family stories here. But so many routinely go through intense stress, depression, and anxiety that is either entirely, or mostly, connected to their working conditions.

And managers don’t know how to deal with it. Or they make it worse. Sometimes on purpose, often it’s more because they don’t know. That same Deloitte study found only one in four thinks their employer cares about their wellbeing.

Countries like Sweden, Belgium, and New Zealand have explicit, codified requirements (ie “you must”) rather than the UK’s primarily guidance-led implementation. Australia’s requirements resemble “core safety compliance” where mental health is embedded in workplace law.

Mental health in the workplace should be treated the same as physical health and safety. Employees should know their rights and how to be supported. 

I first started thinking about this duty of care when, several years ago at a Bournemouth Autumn Conference, I met a campaigner from ForThe100, a group advocating for universities to have a legal duty of care for their students – given far too many still take their own lives and even more suffer with their mental health without any support.

Too many people I know in London and far further afield are affected. And worst of all, the more I learn about multiple sectors shows not just a disregard for mental health, but at times an active effort to push people to the edge.

While many of us have support networks or have developed ways to “cope”, I feel sick thinking about how many are not able to, suffer long term mental health issues, and lose their lives without it ever being brought to light in the media or politically.

There is an increasing and welcome focus on mental health in many areas of society – but specifically when it comes to business it is often lacking. We have to strengthen employers’ duty of care to employees in all sectors and make it loud and clear that people don’t need to suffer. And that employers cannot expect suffering as part of the job. Whatever they pay. Whatever rights their employees are forced to sign away in contracts.

Psychological safety at work is such a benefit to employees, their families, friends, and employers, and the economy.

What could a company that embodies this duty of care achieve? I covered some of that here in a separate article. Briefly, companies could better retain their employees and reduce turnover; improve relationships with both employees and clients; deliver better work for clients on time; reduce sudden and persistent absences; make HR and management easier for all; attract the best talent and more empathetic and emotionally rounded  people; have generally happier and healthier employees.

While employers cannot be made responsible for treatment, equally they cannot be allowed to create working environments where the only reasonable end result is stress, anxiety, and depression. 

Requiring Mental Health First Aiders in large businesses is a good start in our mental health paper. But this duty of care must be deeply embedded in all our workplaces.

I won’t be the only person with both positive and negative experiences – personally and through friends and family. It affects those on high and low incomes. 

What can the Lib Dems do?

Led by our spokespeople, policy teams, experts, and activists, I would love to see us launch a major programme of engagement with business, health professionals, and mental health advocacy groups to craft a genuinely effective duty of care policy – focusing on how it can best be implemented and brought into the public, professional, and political consciousness in the same way that physical health and safety is.

To repeat and conclude, given the very non-zero chance of helping form a government after the next general election, having a clear duty of care policy built on consultation, collaboration, and campaigning, ready to be implemented, would be so powerful for so many.

* Josh works on climate and sustainability across research, consulting, convening, and advocacy, focusing on the systems change and economics we need. He is the Lib Dem candidate for Mayor of Lewisham and Catford South. Josh is also a member of the Lib Dem Federal Policy Committee (FPC). He is a former PPC and Cambridge City Councillor with the opposition portfolio for Climate, Environment, and the City Centre.