Addressing six factors: household finances, housing, identity-based mistreatment, employment, loneliness and social connections, and access to mental and physical health support, provides the best chance of addressing rising levels of poor mental health and reducing inequalities, new research from the Mental Health Foundation has found.
The Foundation’s latest research, Tackling mental health inequalities in the UK: expert consensus on priority areas,invited 51 experts from across the mental health sector to share their views and judgements on the most pressing and actionable social determinants for reducing mental health disparities experienced by particular groups in the UK.
The experts, including researchers, clinicians, community advocates and people with experience of mental health problems, were tasked with reaching consensus via a ‘Delphi process.’
This form of research aims to achieve consensus through repeated rounds of anonymous feedback surveys, allowing participants to generate new ideas and refine their views over time. The process helps ensure that all voices are heard equally, encouraging a more inclusive and balanced understanding of complex issues.
Alongside the six areas identified, the research also concluded that these six areas cannot be addressed in isolation. The experts found that each area is closely interconnected, and an intersectional approach is needed to create lasting change.
Tackling mental health inequalities in the UK also includes several recommendations for changes to policy for both the UK and devolved governments, addressing each of the agreed determinants.
However, the Foundation is warning that the UK government faces significant difficulties in creating joined-up mental health policy across these areas, due to how Whitehall makes new policy. Currently, policymaking in each of these areas is undertaken by 18 of the 24 ministerial departments, but there is no cross-departmental plan directing policymakers to consider mental health as part of their remit.
In light of the experts’ consensus, the Foundation is calling on the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, to re-commit to publishing a cross-government plan for improving the nation’s mental health to help co-ordinate policy across Westminster. The charity is also calling for devolved administrations to ensure that cross-government mental health plans in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland get the levels of resourcing and accountability needed to be effective.
The findings presented in Tackling mental health inequalities in the UK will now shape the Mental Health Foundation’s flagship research project, The Foundation Reports. This project will use one of the UK’s biggest datasets – Understanding Society – to examine mental health inequalities across the four nations, with the first publication due in March 2026.
Dr David Crepaz-Keay, Head of Research and Applied Learning at the Mental Health Foundation, said:
“As our research shows, there is a clear consensus among experts that the best way for the UK government to reduce mental health inequalities and improve outcomes is by acting on the six areas identified. Mental ill health is not distributed equally throughout society, and economically deprived areas, communities facing discrimination, and other marginalised groups often experience the worst outcomes. This is not only morally wrong, but also economically ineffective, with poor mental health costing society and the economy at least £118 billion a year.
“Our research also concludes that these six areas cannot be addressed in isolation. They are deeply interconnected, and a systems-wide approach is needed to make a lasting difference. This is no small challenge. It will require a fundamental rethink of how mental health policy is co-ordinated across government, through a single, coherent plan, as well as an up-front investment in the wellbeing of everyone in the UK. Only through joined up, ambitious action will all governments across the UK be able to rise to this occasion.
“We urgently need to move from a society in which we wait to treat someone when things go wrong, into one where we prevent mental health problems from arising in the first place. Only by creating a society in which everyone has access to the things identified by our research, like a welcoming community, a safe and warm home, timely mental health support and a sufficient income from good work, can we truly begin to get to grips with the rising levels of poor mental health.
“We’d like to thank every contributor to the Delphi process for their time, effort, and expertise, without which we could not have achieved this research. We look forward to sharing more of our findings with you as The Foundation Reports progress.”