Money, debt & mental health problems

For people who are vulnerable to anxiety or psychosis, it’s especially important for them to have a home and regular income.

But many people with mental health problems find it difficult or even impossible to cope with a benefits system which is too complex for most people to understand and which sometimes demands interviews or physical examinations as well as a great deal of form filling.

In this section, we provide an overview of the main benefits which are available to people with mental health problems and carers. More detailed information is available on the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) website.

We also look at the relationship between mental illness and debt problems and provide some basic information about how a debt adviser can help someone who has got into financial difficulties.

We also mention the ways in which a relative or carer can support someone who is unable to manage their finances because symptoms of mental illness make this temporarily impossible.