The 2006/07 survey of Self-reported Work-related Illness (SWI06/07) prevalence estimate indicated that around 530 000 individuals in Britain believed in 2006/07 that they were experiencing work-related stress at a level that was making them ill.
The 2007 Psychosocial Working Conditions (PWC) survey indicated that around 13.6% of all working individuals thought their job was very or extremely stressful.
The annual incidence of work-related mental health problems in Britain in 2006, as estimated from the surveillance schemes OPRA and SOSMI, was approximately 5,900 new cases per year. However, this almost certainly underestimates the true incidence of these conditions in the British workforce. The most recent survey of self-reported work-related illness (SWI06/07) indicates that an estimated 245 000 people first became aware of work-related stress, depression or anxiety in the previous 12 months.
Estimates from SWI06/07 indicate that self-reported work-related stress, depression or anxiety account for an estimated 13.8 million reported lost working days per year in Britain.
Survey data suggest the incidence rate of self-reported work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2006/07 is of a similar order to that in 2001/02. There had been a fall between 2004/05 and 2005/06, but this was followed by a rise back to the previous level in 2006/07. Both changes were statistically significant. THOR surveillance data shows a mixed picture with a falling trend in psychiatrist reports of work-related mental health between 1999 and 2006 but with occupational physician reports rising between 1999 and 2001 and then remaining steady. The ONS omnibus survey shows an overall downward trend in the proportion of people saying their job was very or extremely stressful between 2004 and 2006, levelling off in 2007.
Occupation and industry groups containing teachers and nurses, along with professional and managerial groups particularly those in the public sector have high prevalence rates of work-related stress in the SWI and SHAW surveys. The THOR datasets SOSMI and OPRA also report high incident rates of work-related mental illness for these occupational groups, along with medical practitioners and those in public sector security based occupations such as police officers, prison officers, and UK armed forces personnel.
