PEOPLE with mental illnesses in Dorset are far less likely to be employed than their peers, figures suggest.

Mental health charity Mind has called for more to be done to combat a striking national employment gap, saying hundreds of thousands of people with long term mental health conditions fall out of employment every year – many due to a lack of appropriate workplace support.

READ MORE: Universal Credit claimants face £1,000 losses as Boris Johnson faces pressure

READ MORE: How the National Insurance rise for social care reform will impact payslips

These calls have been echoed by Dorset-based charity RJVN8 which is calling for more volunteering opportunities to help reintroduce people to the working environment and build confidence.

NHS Digital data shows that in March, the employment rate in Bournemouth’s working age population was roughly 69 per cent, but for those who were mentally ill that number was far lower at 38 per cent.

Across Dorset, the employment rate of the working age population was roughly 77 per cent - but for those who were mentally ill, it stood at just 49 per cent.

Across England as a whole, just 51 per cent of people with a mental illness were employed in March, compared to 75 per cent of the working age population.

The figures are based on the Labour Force Survey – a study of people's employment circumstances – by the Office for National Statistics.

Edward Bates, co-founder of RJVN8 said: “There are so many challenges, mainly because mental health is an invisible illness and we can’t tell what anyone is feeling at any one time.

“One in four people across the country suffer with mental health challenges of some description so I imagine these figures are even higher, though some people are able to continue working despite suffering from severe anxiety or depression.

“I think there needs to be more volunteering opportunities which would help to ease people back into full-time employment.

“Also there is still a stigma surrounding mental health and people don’t feel like they can come forward to their employers and say ‘look I’m someone that suffers with severe depression and I might need two days off a month because I don’t feel I’m able to get out of bed’.

“This stigma means that less people are able to speak up though that situation is improving and the pandemic has enabled more people to work from home which is great and we hope that continues.”

Mind is calling for employers to become legally obliged to monitor and reduce health-related pay gaps and for Statutory Sick Pay to begin earlier to ensure ill employees do not work because they cannot afford time off.

A government spokesman said SSP waiting days protect employers from the cost of short-term absences, and that many pay above the minimum level.