Welcome to ‘Brittle Britain’

By Paul Richards

Britain’s welfare services are about to be overwhelmed by an epidemic of loneliness, anxiety and social isolation, according to a new report out this morning by the Young Foundation, and sponsored by the Big Lottery Fund. It will make depressing reading for Labour ministers as they prepare the pre-budget report.

What the report says is that Britain is a country where the majority of people have a roof over their heads, enough to eat, clothes to wear, and some money in their pockets for life’s little pleasures. Despite the recession, most people are just about coping. But Britain is ‘brittle’. Seven million say that they suffer a ‘severe’ lack of social support. A million have no-one to turn to, and no-one who appreciates them. Anti-depressant drugs prescriptions increased from 9 million in 1991 to 34 million in 2007.

Based on new analysis of statistical data, case studies from areas across the country, surveys and hundreds of conversations, the study Sinking & Swimming shows:

* Failed transitions – thousands falling through the net as they leave local authority care or prison.

* Teenagers without resilience – thousands failing to find jobs but not knowing how or where to find the help they need.

* An epidemic of loneliness – with half a million pensioners spending Christmas alone.

Its analysis shows that anxiety and depression are likely to double in a generation – as is obesity. New necessities are becoming important – for refugees and teenagers the mobile phone is now as important as food.

The bigger message for the Labour Party is about welfare. The welfare state that was built up after the great economic crisis of the 1930s was designed to address Britain’s material needs – for jobs, homes, health care and pensions. It was assumed by the 1945 Labour government that people’s emotional needs would be met by close-knit families and traditional communities.

Sixty years later psychological needs have become as pressing as material ones: the risk of loneliness and isolation; the risk of mental illness; the risk of being left behind. New solutions are needed to help the many people struggling with transitions out of care, prison or family breakdown, and to provide people with the resilience they’ll need to get by in uncertain times.

After 12 years of Labour, Britain is a rich country – but one with many poor people. And it is a largely happy country – but with many unhappy people. The study launched this morning is a guide to the changing landscape of need – and a guide to how the unnecessary suffering around us can be reduced.

It should be required reading for every minister and policy wonk.