Half of UK MPs’ staff have clinical levels of psychological distress, study claims

The survey of nearly 200 members of MPs staff found that 72.2 per cent found the job ‘emotionally draining’

The wellness working group, a cross-party group of MPs’ staff, said the problems highlighted by the report were “very concerning” and called for cultural change at Wesminster (EPA)

Half of all MPs’ staff are suffering from clinical levels of psychological distress and are at “breaking point” due to years of crisis in Westminster, according to a new study.

A combination of factors such as a lack of support, abuse from the public and multiple upheavals such as Covid and Brexit have negatively impacted parliamentary aides, as reported by The Guardian.

The survey of nearly 200 members of MPs’ staff found that 72.2 per cent found the job “emotionally draining” and 64.4 per cent found it “difficult”.

More than a third (34.9 per cent) felt they were undersupported and 1 in five (22.6 per cent) said the job was “harrowing”.

The most alarming part of the study, which was the first of its kind, revealed that 49.5 per cent of respondents met the medical threshold for psychological distress, which is more than twice the general population.

The survey was carried out by occupational psycologist Dr Ashley Weinberg who used a screening tool called the General Health Questionnaire-12. This is often used to measure levels of psycological distress in patients.

The survey also revealed that one-fifth of workers felt unsafe and many said they were struggling to cope with an increased workload from constituents in difficult or emergency situations.

Some staff said they were dealing with bullying or harassment. One staff member said: “I enjoy working with colleagues as a result of solidarity from the bullying many in the team face from the MP.”

The wellness working group, a cross-party group of MPs’ staff, said the problems highlighted by the report were “very concerning” and called for cultural change at Wesminster.

Thomas Fairweather, an executive member of the working group, said the cost of living crisis had left staff fearing that workloads will increase even further.

He said: “Staff are too used to the horrible, sickening feeling that coming down the line there will be another huge influx of people in desperate situations, needing help in ways that teams are not trained for.

“With more suitable training, resources and changes to fix the wellbeing problem, we could do so much more.”

The study comes just days before Sue Gray’s Partygate report is expected to criticise the senior figures at No 10 for multiple gatherings while Covid regulations were in force.