The British public overwhelmingly believes that the mental health epidemic is being driven by high levels of family breakdown.
According to a new opinion poll of over 2,000 UK adults, three in four people (75 per cent) agree the two are linked, a figure that rises to four in five young people.
The stark finding suggest Britain is paying a high price for its position as one of the divorce capitals of the world.
Nearly half of all UK births take place outside marriage, at which point 16 per cent of UK mothers have no regular partner – three times the level in Europe.
Previous research from The Relationship Foundation has estimated that the annual cost to the taxpayer of family breakdown is, at minimum, £50 billion, but that figure was calculated before the recent surge in the number of people of working age giving up work and claiming benefits – often citing a mental disorder as justification.
That number has rocketed from 2.1 million in 2019 to 2.8 million today and many of the extra 700,000 claiming sick pay say they are unable to work because of mental health disorders.
Parents say no to kids’ smartphones
Smartphones are a real concern for the public. There is an overwhelming worry amongst adults about children’s access to smartphones (78 per cent are concerned about children’s smartphone usage) and what they are using them for.
This new polling, commissioned by the Family Hubs Network, reveals that government plans to ban the sale of smartphones to under 16s have broad support among the public with nearly 3 in 5 adults (57 per cent) in favour of such a ban.
This comes as the Online Safety Act has been criticised by bereaved parents’ groups for not going far enough for protecting children from online pressures. This is despite Ofcom warning social media sites they face being banned for under 18-year-olds if their algorithms do not sufficiently protect children from “toxic” content.
This desire to protect children is reflected across the country. Adults fear how smartphones enable easy access to dangerous content, content that poses a great risk to children through increased cyberbullying (60 per cent), mental health problems (39 per cent) and easy access to pornography (35 per cent).
There are also significant concerns over smartphones damaging social skills and behaviour. Most of the public (51 per cent) believe that smartphones risk children failing to learn how to interact properly in person. Similar numbers (48 per cent) say that smartphones cause kids to be constantly distracted.
“Smartphones have caused serious damage to our kids”, said Lord Farmer, founder of the Family Hubs Network. “Much of the worst of the modern world is too easily available through the click of a button. It is good that the Government is finally taking this seriously.”
Meanwhile, the percentage of young people seeking assistance from NHS child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs) rocketed by 76 per cent from 2019. In 2019, over 800,000 under-18s sought help from Camhs, soaring to over 1.4 million in 2022.
According to the Resolution Foundation think-tank, official figures show that claims for personal independence payment (Pip), the non-means tested benefit for those with health issues, jumped 68 per cent from 2020 to 2024.
Department of Work and Pensions data on medical conditions recorded on Work Capability Assessments found that 69 per cent of benefit claimants cited mental health problems.
In a recent major study of over 43,000 patients in children and young people’s mental health (CYPMH) services, ‘Family Relationships problems’ were cited as the biggest presenting problem by CYPMH clinicians with over half of them citing family difficulties.
The survey commissioned by the Family Hubs Network and carried out by Whitestone Insight also finds widespread alarm about the state of the modern family.
Over half of people (56 per cent) believe that the institution of the family is under pressure from contemporary lifestyles and nearly one in four (22 per cent) believe that it is breaking down.
Nearly two thirds (61 per cent) are concerned about levels of family breakdown, rising to nearly 70 per cent among parents.
A majority of the public (51 per cent) want to see tax breaks for marriage but overall people believe that responsibility for strengthening family life extends beyond Whitehall.
New polling, commissioned by the Family Hubs Network, reveals that almost two thirds of the public (59 per cent) support the Government’s plan to double childcare spending to £8 billion.
However, this support is not unconditional. Only a third of the country believe that childcare money should be without strings attached.
This is not the only option for the Government as there is broad support for reducing the tax burden on families instead of increasing state subsidies. Nearly half of the public (44 per cent) believe that cutting taxes would be better for parents with only 28 per cent supporting greater subsidies.
Lack of money to start or maintain a family (49 per cent); lack of government support (34 per cent), and lack of discipline at school (33 per cent) were also cited as key factors.
The public regards parents – not teachers or others – as primarily responsible for children’s upbringing.
For instance, nearly nine in ten people said it was the job of parents to teach core values and nearly as many (79 per cent) said it was their job – ahead of the school or local community – to give a child a sense of identity.
Commenting, Lord Farmer – founder of the Family Hubs Network, said:
“Family breakdown is clearly one of the root causes of many problems we face as a society. It is a scandal that it is not taken seriously by this government or indeed, any of its recent predecessors.
“Family breakdown is leading to spiralling and, on many occasions, completely avoidable costs for the taxpayer.
“Success begins at home. The British people know this – why can’t the government acknowledge this basic fact?”
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