London is facing an annual bill of £26 billion to cope with mental health problems, says a report.
The document, commissioned by Mayor Boris Johnson, outlines the full economic and social cost to the capital.
It states around £7.5 billion is spent each year to address mental health in London, including spending on health and social care to treat illness, benefits to support those living with mental ill health, and costs to education services and the criminal justice system.
But these costs are only part of the total lost to London each year through issues such as reduced productivity, it said.
Martin Knapp, professor of social policy at the London School of Economics, who was on the report’s working group, said more needed to be done.
“This is far too high a price to the city, and much of it is because we are not addressing individual and social needs properly,” he said.
“Those costs will continue to rise if we do nothing.”
