A survey has found that staff working for MPs face similar levels of psychological distress as frontline NHS workers. It also suggested that Westminster staffers have a toxic workload and fear for their safety.
According to The Guardian:
A study of 315 parliamentary workers, the largest of its kind, found many were struggling with the vicarious trauma of helping desperate people in a worsening cost of living crisis.
MPs’ caseworkers said there had been a “worrying upturn” in the number of suicidal people seeking their help in the past year.
Thomas Fairweather, of the parliamentary Wellness Working Group (WWG), which commissioned the report, said: “Parliament has shown that it is trying to do more but there is still quite a contingent of staff on the cusp of burnout, if not into burnout, with nowhere to go.”
The survey found 42% of MPs’ staff met the clinical definition of experiencing psychological distress. This is three times higher than in the general population, and similar to levels seen in frontline NHS workers, according to Dr Ashley Weinberg, a psychologist who studied the findings.
Two-thirds of those surveyed described their work as “emotionally draining” and one in 10 said it was “harrowing”. Staff said it was not unusual to open horrifying mail detailing child abuse, or containing pictures of maimed or dead children.
While the levels of bullying in parliament were found to be lower than in the average workplace, more than one in three said they had experienced unreasonable behaviour in the office, in person or online. Nearly one in 10 said this happened “always” or “very frequently”.
Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister and justice secretary, is under investigation over allegations of bullying from about two dozen civil servants across three government departments.
Rishi Sunak has refused to say whether he knew about informal complaints before appointing him. Raab has vowed to “thoroughly rebut and refute” the formal complaints. He has said he is confident he “acted professionally” throughout his time in three different cabinet posts.
Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said they had feared for their own or colleagues’ safety at work. Almost 40% said they hid the nature of their work from friends and family.
One worker said: “The constituency office is unsafe and has been attacked several times by angry members of the public. The MP is never really there so doesn’t care. There is no hot running water or windows and no safe means of escape.”
Another said: “Our MP refused the offer of CCTV at the constituency office, without consulting office-based staff.”
