The importance of not ignoring mental-health issues in the workplace has once again been emphasised to employers by the publication of new claims statistics from a leading insurer.
 
Legal & General’s analysis of its own Group Income Protection (GIP) claims since 2000 shows that 31 per cent were for mental-health issues, and that the volume increased by six percentage points from the 2005 figure of 25 per cent.
 
The sector with the highest percentage of claims – at 44 per cent – was ‘finance and insurance’ – while ‘mining and oil and gas extraction’ had the lowest, at 17 per cent. Other sectors that made more claims than the average were construction (35 per cent) and the service industries (33 per cent).
 
Commenting on the findings, Diane Buckley, managing director of Legal & General Group Income Protection, said: “Our mental-health claim figures show how important it is for employers to help their staff with mental-health issues – particularly in the finance and insurance industry. Keeping our claims transparent will further aid our efforts to get individuals back into work.

"In the coming months, we will publish analyses that examine notifications for arthritis, back problems, cardiovascular, chronic fatigue syndrome, digestive, musculoskeletal, nervous system, respiratory and cancer.”