Can you ask candidates to hide their mental health on applications?

Mental health can affect individuals in various different ways, from anxiety and depression to eating disorders and intense stress, each of which can greatly impact a person’s life and how they work. In fact, in 2016/17 there were 526,000 UK cases of work-related stress, depression or anxiety, reports the Great Britain Health and Safety Executive, indicating just how prevalent mental health is within the workplace.

While this may be the case, mental health continues to be a subject that isn’t spoken about among colleagues and managers. For example, in May 2019 Breathe HR, in its Sick Report 2019: The state of health and wellbeing in British SMEs, discovered that 40% of employees are uncomfortable telling managers that they need time off to deal with mental health. And it seems now that one organisation is also encouraging jobseekers to follow suit.

Employment welfare body Jobcentre Plus recently changed its policy to urge jobseekers to hide their illness and ‘downplay’ any diagnosis of ill mental health by instead opting to call it ‘low mood’. This advice first appeared in a leaflet that was shared online from a Jobcentre based n Dorset titled Positive health statement. Unsurprisingly, the shocking advice was met with a barrage of criticism from charities and jobseekers alike.