Exploring the relationships between employment status, social welfare and benefit receipt among people affected by mental health disorders

在英国，约有118万人接受二级精神卫生保健服务，其中13.6万人患有严重的精神健康状况，如精神病或双相情感障碍。这些精神健康障碍是最常见的工作年龄残疾，也是申请失业和疾病相关福利的常用理由。在过去的十年里，福利制度发生了重大变化，包括引入“通用信贷”福利来取代其他几种福利。人们关注的是这些变化对特别脆弱的索赔人的影响，包括那些有严重精神健康障碍的人，然而，关于这些福利索赔人的情况以及对帮助这一群体获得和保持工作最有帮助和最没有帮助的干预措施和支持计划的类型，缺乏证据。该项目旨在利用来自工作和养老金部（DWP）和工作和健康部门的关联数据，以及来自南伦敦和莫兹利（SLAM）二级护理服务的NHS心理健康医疗记录，探索精神健康障碍患者的就业状况、社会福利和福利接收之间的复杂关系。它将研究福利变化如何影响领取福利的数量和时间以及重返工作岗位所需的时间，以及SLaM和DWP提供的心理健康干预和支持在重返工作岗位后可获得和改善的情况，以及这如何因年龄、种族和诊断等因素而有所不同。还将进行访谈，就严重精神健康障碍患者在重返工作岗位或寻找合适替代方案时遇到的障碍和促进因素，以及他们是否感到得到了充分支持，提供深入的数据。这一项目的调查结果将填补知识空白，并提供切实可行的建议，以改进有关领取福利、支持和为精神健康障碍患者获得/重返工作岗位提供服务的政策。

In the UK around 1.18 million people access secondary mental health care services, of which 136,000 have a serious mental health condition such as psychosis or bipolar disorder. These mental health disorders are some of the most commonly reported working-age disabilities and often-cited reason for claiming unemployment and sickness-related benefits. Substantial changes have been made in the past decade to the benefit system, including the introduction of "universal credit" benefit to replace several other benefits. Concerns lie around the impact of these changes on particularly vulnerable claimants including those with serious mental health disorders, however there is a lack of evidence around the profiles of these benefit claimants and types of interventions and support programs that are most and least helpful for helping this group gain and remain in work. This project aims to explore the complex relationships between employment status, social welfare and benefit receipt among those with mental health disorders using linked data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Work and Health Unit, and NHS mental health medical records from secondary care services in South London and Maudsley (SLAM). It will look at how benefit changes have impacted the amount of and time spent on benefits and the time taken to return to work, as well as which mental health interventions and support provided by both SLaM and DWP are available and improve upon return to work, and how this varies by factors such as age, ethnicity and diagnosis. Interviews will also be conducted to provide in depth data around the barriers and facilitators people with serious mental health disorders experience in returning to work or finding suitable alternatives, and whether they feel adequately supported. The findings from this project will fill the knowledge gap and provide practical recommendations in order to improve upon policies relating to benefit receipt and support and provision for people with mental health disorders gaining/returning to work.