The NHS England reported that more than 625,000 staff days of absence in June were due to mental health sick days, marking anxiety, stress, depression and other psychiatric reasons as the top single cause of sick leave. In that month alone, mental-health-related leave accounted for almost one-third of all workforce absences.
In June 2025 the sickness absence rate across England’s health service stood at 4.9 %. Within this, anxiety, stress, depression and other psychiatric illnesses contributed to over 626,800 full-time equivalent days lost, representing about 29.1 % of all lost days that month. This figure marks a sharp increase — early categorisation of sick-days in 2019 showed an average of around 400,000 mental-health days per month.
Higher rates among non-clinical staff
The highest proportions of mental-health related absences were found among the “back-office” and administrative workforce (HR, finance, communications, legal). In June infrastructure staff (non-patient-facing roles) accounted for 15 % of all sick days, and over 40 % of those were attributed to mental health.
A spokesperson for NHS England described the rates as “totally unacceptable” especially in non-patient-facing roles, adding that the health service is offering a range of wellbeing and mental-health support to address the problem.
Underlying pressures mounting
Workforce analysts point out that the rise in mental-health related sick leave reflects deeper stresses facing the health service including heavy caseloads, chronic understaffing, inflexible working arrangements, and burnout among clinical and non-clinical staff.
Recent data also shows that younger staff are particularly affected, with higher rates of reported burnout and intent to leave the service.
Wider implications for service delivery
The surge in sick days comes at a critical time for the NHS. Morale and staffing pressures are influencing waiting-lists and operational capacity. The health service now faces mounting pressure to reduce backlog care, manage an active wave of influenza, and support a workforce still recovering from the pandemic impact.
What must be done
Experts argue the service must intensify efforts on:
•Proactive mental-health and wellbeing programmes targeted especially at non-clinical staff
•Flexible working arrangements and improved managerial support
•Workforce planning that acknowledges the inter-link between staff wellbeing and service quality
Failure to address the trend could further erode workforce capacity, reduce front-line availability and exacerbate care delays.
