By Sophia Dunn, Paralegal, CLR Law
Work-related stress is no longer a wellbeing issue alone.
Mental ill health is a top cause of long-term absence for 41% of employers (CIPD, 2025), 32% of decision makers report it as a reason staff give for sickness absence (Acas, 2026), and 22.1 million working days were lost in Great Britain in 2024/25 to work-related stress, depression or anxiety (HSE).
The challenge is not mitigating stress. It is recognising when ordinary pressure begins to develop into a mental health condition, and acting once it does.
An employer’s guide to the language
Stress: the adverse reaction to excessive pressures or demands (the HSE’s definition).
Anxiety: persistent worry or fear that outlasts the pressure causing it and interferes with daily functioning.
Mental health condition: a clinically recognised illness that may require treatment and significantly affects daily life.
Stress is not always a mental health condition
Stress is natural and can be useful, e.g. shortterm pressure, which passes. Where pressure is persistent it can become chronic stress, which can develop into a recognised condition such as depression or an anxiety disorder. That is where the legal position changes.
When does stress become a legal risk?
Disability discrimination. Under section 6 of the Equality Act 2010, a person is disabled if a physical or mental impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities – longterm meaning lasting, or likely to last, at least 12 months.
Two points are often missed. Stress alone is not usually an impairment: tribunals distinguish stress and unhappiness from a clinically recognised condition (Herry v Dudley MBC).
And no label is required – protection turns on the effect on the individual.
Where the definition is met the duty to make reasonable adjustments applies. It is triggered where the employer knows, or ought reasonably to know, of the disability and the disadvantage – constructive knowledge is enough, which is why ignoring warning signs is dangerous.
Duty of care. Employers separately owe a common law duty to take reasonable care for employees’ health, backed by regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
In Foxton-Duffy v Jockey Club Racecourses Ltd [2026] EWHC 571 (KB), the High Court awarded a former Head of Marketing around £990,000 for psychiatric injury caused by occupational stress arising from a restructure. He formally raised the risk of injury to health and colleagues noticed visible changes in his behaviour, but no risk assessment or occupational health referral followed.
Three points stand out. Counselling was available, but the judge held that passive provision was not a panacea. Liability ran from when psychiatric injury became reasonably foreseeable, after which straightforward steps should have been taken. And the claim succeeded despite no prior breakdown, which is rare.
Once the signs are there, doing nothing is a decision.
What employers can do now
Keep stress and mental health policies up to date.
Encourage annual leave and monitor accrued untaken leave.
Manage workloads realistically, particularly after a restructure.
Conduct stress risk assessments using the HSE Management Standards, refer to occupational health, and act on the recommendations.
Don’t ignore the warning signs.
Train line managers to recognise the signs and know what to do next.
Employers who identify concerns early, equip managers and encourage open conversations are better placed to support their people, meet their obligations and build a resilient workforce.
clrlaw.co.uk
