Work-related stress has become the most widespread health and safety concern in Britain’s workplaces, with new union survey data showing unprecedented levels of pressure on staff and widespread failures by employers to assess or address the risks.
Findings published today by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) show that almost eight in ten union safety representatives now identify stress as one of the main hazards facing workers, making it the most commonly reported workplace risk recorded by the organisation.
The results are reinforced by official figures from the Health and Safety Executive, which show that work-related stress, depression and anxiety led to the loss of 22 million working days in 2024/25.
Stress Tops Safety Concerns Across Sectors
The TUC’s 15th biennial survey of more than 2,700 union safety representatives found that 79 percent cited stress as a major workplace hazard, the highest level recorded since the survey began and significantly higher than any other risk.
Stress was reported as the top concern in every UK region and across almost all industrial sectors. Levels were particularly pronounced in central government, local government, health, education and the voluntary sector.
Workload emerged as a closely related issue, with 60 percent of safety representatives identifying excessive demands as a major concern. Many respondents linked rising workloads directly to growing levels of stress, describing pressure that they said had reached unprecedented levels in some workplaces.
Employers Failing to Assess Stress Risks
Alongside rising pressure, the survey points to widespread gaps in employer compliance with existing health and safety requirements.
Two thirds of safety representatives said they were not aware of any risk assessment being carried out into stress at work. Nearly half said they had not been consulted at all during their employer’s risk assessment process, despite legal requirements to involve safety representatives.
The findings suggest that, in many workplaces, stress is not being treated with the same seriousness as other health and safety hazards, even as reports of harm continue to rise.
Data Shows Rising Human and Economic Cost
The TUC’s concerns are backed by the Health and Safety Executive’s latest annual statistics. These show that the number of workers reporting work-related stress, depression or anxiety rose from 776,000 in 2023 to 964,000 in 2024.
Over the same period, 22 million working days were lost as a result of work-related stress. The scale of absence highlights both the personal impact on workers and the broader cost to organisations and the wider economy.
The TUC said the figures reflected the consequences of sustained inaction on stress prevention and wider health and safety management.
Calls For Stronger Action on Workload and Prevention
The TUC is calling on government and employers to enforce existing legal duties to assess and prevent work-related stress, strengthen enforcement capacity at the Health and Safety Executive and take action to reduce excessive workloads and unsafe staffing levels.
Paul Nowak, General Secretary of the TUC, framed the findings as evidence of a growing national problem for working people. Reflecting on the results, he said, “These findings expose a growing national crisis. Stress is now entrenched as the biggest health and safety issue facing working people, and the situation is getting worse.”
He warned that many workers were being pushed beyond sustainable limits, saying, “No worker should find themselves lying awake at night from stress. But too many employers are ignoring the law, failing to assess stress risks, and piling impossible workloads onto staff. Workers are burning out, and they are paying with their health.”
Pointing to the role of management and leadership, Nowak added, “Employers and managers need to do more to identify and reduce risks and to provide support to employees struggling to cope.”
He also linked the issue to wider reform, saying, “It is vital that we now implement the Employment Rights Act quickly and in full, so that we can improve employment standards and create happier, healthier and more productive workplaces.”
Stress and Wellbeing Remain Central Workplace Issues
For wellbeing professionals, the findings underline the importance of treating stress as a core health and safety risk rather than a personal resilience issue. Without meaningful assessment, consultation and preventative action, observers warn that high workloads and unmanaged pressure are likely to continue driving absence, disengagement and long-term health problems.
As work-related stress continues to dominate safety concerns across sectors, the challenge for employers remains how to move beyond awareness and towards sustained, preventative change.