Britain's mental health crisis is a leadership crisis, too

With 250 new disability benefit claims for mental ill health every day, Britain faces not only a health emergency but a leadership one. Behind the statistics lies a quieter story – of absence, belonging, and what happens when the people we need most stop showing up.

Recent headlines confirmed what many families already feel in their bones: Britain’s mental health crisis is deepening. Around 250 new disability claims for anxiety or depression are approved each day . Mental health conditions now account for more than 80% of all health-related benefits. And 365,000 people aged 16–24 are classed as NEET – not in education, employment or training.

Numbers like these are read in offices, but they are lived in living rooms, the empty chair at dinner, the unopened letter from school, the