The UK’s leading independent corporate healthcare trust provider, Healix Health, is calling on employers to turn Mental Health Awareness Week into lasting action, after its claims data showed that employees are most likely to seek mental health support when employers actively promote available support.
Analysis of claims data from January 2024 to early 2026 shows mental health consistently accounts for 4-7% of all monthly claims, with anxiety, depression and stress making up the majority of claims. Mental health claims peak in April, reaching 7.2% in 2024 and 7.7% in 2025, when employer benefit renewal communications are at their highest.
Healix Health’s claims data from 2024 to early 2026 shows:
- Mental health support queries rose approximately 10% in the weeks following Mental Health Awareness Week in both May 2023 and May 2024, returning to baseline by June
- The 30–39 age group accounts for the largest share of mental health claims at 28%, followed by 20–29 year olds at 21%, with the two groups together making up almost half (49%) of all treatment activity
- Younger employees are the most likely to seek mental health support when adjusted for population size – the 15–19 and 20–29 age groups access services at the highest rates, with uptake declining steadily with age
- 59 to 60% of claims are from women, 40 to 41% from men – this mirrors national population level data, where women are consistently more likely than men to report common mental health conditions
Keira Wallis, Head of Clinical Operations at Healix Health, said:
“The consistency of these numbers is what stands out. Mental health is not a spike we saw during the pandemic that has since settled down. It is a permanent and significant part of what employees need support with, year in, year out. That should change how employers think about it.”
“What the data also shows is that employees are far more likely to engage with mental health support when their employer makes it visible and easy to access. The spring peak we see each year lines up with benefit renewal communications, not awareness weeks. That is a signal. Awareness has a role to play, but operational action, clear pathways, well-informed managers, and benefits people actually know how to use, is what translates awareness into support.”
