UK work-related stress at crisis point, TUC warns employers
LONDON, ENGLAND — The United Kingdom is confronting severe work-related stress as new data from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) reveals 79% of workplace safety representatives identify stress as a top hazard.
This warning follows statistics showing a record 964,000 workers suffering from work-related stress, with employers accused of routinely failing to assess or address the risks.
“These findings expose a growing national crisis. Stress is now entrenched as the biggest health and safety issue facing working people, and the situation is getting worse,” said Paul Nowak, General Secretary of TUC.
Employers failing to assess UK work stress risks, says TUC
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) biennial survey of more than 2,700 union safety representatives reveals a profound failure by employers to comply with legal and moral duties to protect workers from stress.
Two-thirds of representatives report that they are not aware of any employer assessment of stress risk, a fundamental first step required by health and safety law.
This negligence is compounded by a lack of consultation with the very personnel tasked with safeguarding staff. Nearly half (43%) of safety reps stated they were not consulted at all on their employer’s risk assessment process, a serious breach of safety regulations, the TUC notes.
“This lack of involvement and knowledge may be related to the high proportion of reps who feel they do not know enough about the contents of risk assessments or their adequacy,” the report notes.
The statistics show that stress is not being addressed as seriously as physical hazards and risks, and that employees are not being safeguarded in key areas, including the central government, health, education, and the voluntary sector. As the report notes, “Stress is the most widespread concern in all regions and nations.”
“No worker should find themselves lying awake at night from stress. But too many employers are ignoring the law, failing to assess stress risks, and piling impossible workloads onto staff. Workers are burning out, and they are paying with their health,” stressed Nowak.
Work stress costing UK millions of days, unions warn
Supporting the survey results, the official statistics of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for 2024/25 on crisis measures show the crisis in very economic and human dimensions.
The human cost was directly translated into a significant loss of productive capacity, with 22 million working days lost in the same year due to work-related stress.
The TUC directly attributes this mounting harm to employers’ negligence, citing primary causes such as undue workloads, which 60% of safety reps identified as a significant and increasing hazard. “Workload is the next most cited top five concern for all sectors,” the report stated. The unions complain that the figures support the untenable price of neglecting psychosocial risks.
“Employers and managers need to do more to identify and reduce risks and to provide support to employees struggling to cope,” Nowak said.
“It is vital that we now implement the Employment Rights Act quickly and in full, so that we can improve employment standards and create happier, healthier and more productive workplaces,” highlighting the need to enact laws to better protect the employees from these risks.
The staggering human and economic toll of this unchecked stress epidemic signals that unless systemic reforms prioritize psychological safety alongside physical hazards, the very foundation of the UK’s future productivity and workforce well-being will remain fundamentally compromised.
