Cary Cooper is Pro Vice Chancellor for External Relations in Lancaster University. Until October 2003 he held a chair at UMIST where he was formerly Deputy Vice Chancellor and he has held various other academic posts as well as being a distinguished commentator on work organisations and the psychology of workers. Here he comments on research going on to understand better how to safeguard the mental health of individuals across their working lives.

Late last year the Government Office for Science’s Foresight programme launched their findings and recommendations on improving mental capital and wellbeing in the UK. This was an effort at providing evidence-based policy on what might be depleting as well as enhancing an individual’s mental capital over the life course. Mental capital could be conceived as a bank account of the mind which gets debited and credited throughout life, from childhood to old age.  The project involved over 400 scientists, with 85 comprehensive science reviews, during which stakeholder groups met to interpret and discuss the evidence and what it might mean for policy making and possible interventions.  After all the science was completed, further meetings were held with a range of other stakeholders (eg government departments, employers, trade unions, CIPD, etc.) to further develop the interventions and likely policy initiatives.  Once these had been distilled, a team of economists evaluated these to determine their cost effectiveness. 

Since the launch of the project late last year, there have been meetings with government departments on those parts of the report which were of relevance to them (eg. childhood issues with the DCSF; work-related with DWP, etc.).  We have also met with the devolved governments in Wales and Scotland, as well as a number of relevant bodies in various EU countries (eg Sweden, Denmark, Holland).  Indeed, as a consequence of visits to Sweden there will be a joint Swedish-UK meeting in early December on work and wellbeing based on Foresight and the Dame Carol Black report on improving wellbeing at work.

We know that mental ill health costs England alone £77 billion per annum, with one in six adults in the UK suffering from a common mental disorder at any one time.  The biggest challenge in the future is with the ageing population.  By 2071 the over 65s will nearly double to 21 million, with the over-80s more than trebling to 9.5 million.  This could mean that by 2038 dementia could double to 1.4 million, trebling the costs from £17 billion today to over £50 billion by then.  There are real challenges ahead for our ageing population to protect their mental capital through exercise, life long learning, promoting social networking, the early detection of cognitive decline, and extending employment for those healthy enough to do it. 

The challenges in supporting and nurturing our ageing population should not be a cost-driven one, but one that sees that enhancing the quality of life of our older citizens can make a positive contribution to our society.  We need to think outside the box about the variety of roles that our older workers and citizens can take on to meet their own needs and those of society as well.  Life long experience in our frenetic and fast moving times is invaluable, and can give us a new perspective.  As T S Eliot’s poem Four Quartets suggests:

“We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time”.