10/10/2025
🧠💚 Today is World Mental Health Day 💚🧠
A reminder that mental health matters every day, but today we shine a light on it together. Whether you're checking in on a friend, taking a moment for yourself, or advocating for better support—every action counts.
PCS has regular meetings with HR Health and Safety and Wellbeing, with specific meetings focussing on stress and mental health. We use these meetings to not only review and learn lessons from data on accident reports, calls to the Employee Assistance Programme, Occupational Health referrals, and working days lost to mental health absences, but to escalate concerns from members about stressors in the workplace and actions taken by the department which have a detrimental impact on mental health.
PCS encourages everyone who may be experiencing poor mental health to have a conversation with your manager and to report this through the ACC1 accident reporting process to ensure HMRC are aware of the extent of mental health impacts across teams, locations, and business areas. This should also ensure a Stress Management Plan and a Wellness Plan are produced collaboratively, to identify the causes and to put in place actions to reduce or to remove entirely the stressors as much as possible. PCS Health and Safety Representatives are also available to provide help and advice through the reporting process. If your line manager is contributing to your stress and poor mental health, ACC1 reports should be submitted to their manager, or the next level of management again if necessary.
The Wellbeing Matters intranet hub is available and signposts to a range of mental health assistance and support resources, including the Employee Assistance Programme and their Health and Wellbeing Assessment Tool. There is also one-to-one support available from HMRC's network of trained Mental Health Advocates (MHAs).
PCS members also have access to the Health Assured wellbeing support service 24-hours a day through the Wisdom app – designed to improve your mental and physical health through a range of wellbeing resources and interactive features. The service is available to all members of PCS including students and retired members. It provides wellness and wellbeing tools and resources such as health checks, breathing exercises, webinars, fitness, and live chat and video with Health Assured wellbeing counsellors. You can access this through PCS Plus: https://pcs.memberrewards.uk/b_li_HealthAssured/
Advice and support can also be sought from your GP or local NHS authority, and there is a range of external professional helplines available to call: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/guides-to-support-and-services/seeking-help-for-a-mental-health-problem/mental-health-helplines/. In Northern Ireland there is the Lifeline service on 08088088000. In Scotland there is Breathing Space on 0800838587. In Wales there is the C.A.L.L. helpline on 0800132737.
While at times it may feel like you are alone, that is absolutely not the case. We all have mental health, and where that isn't good and where it is having an impact on our lives, we should have that conversation with medical professionals, family, friends, or colleagues and use the wide range of help and support available.
