Former Mental Health Practitioner Receives Settlement Following Stress at Work Claim Against Council
In July 2018, our client was employed by Birmingham City Council as an Approved Mental Health Practitioner (AMHP) on the Council’s city-wide AMHP team.
One Friday in July 2018, she was allocated a Mental Health Assessment (MHA). Upon review, she concluded that an urgent MHA was required, along with a psychiatric admission. She also determined that a s.135(1) warrant was necessary. While her superior agreed that the warrant was appropriate, our client was denied the opportunity to apply for one that day.
She left work for the weekend and, upon her return on Monday, found an email informing her that the gentleman she had assessed had murdered a stranger on the Friday night. In response, she emailed her managers, raising concerns about the handling of the situation, failures within the system, and her belief that the death was preventable.
Later, she provided a witness statement for the coroner’s inquest, again expressing her opinion that the death was preventable. She alleged that she was pressured by her employer to remove facts and opinions from her statement and felt unsupported while dealing with events related to the inquest. She went off sick in July 2019. She was later suspended for “failing to follow management instructions” regarding the removal of content from her statement and for providing her full statement to the coroner. A disciplinary hearing did not take place until March 2023.
The outcome of the disciplinary procedure was that our client’s suspension was lifted, and she was issued with a final warning. She resigned on 30 March 2023, citing significant breaches of trust and confidence, and the excessive length of the disciplinary process — which had lasted over three and a half years.
She then approached our firm for help in pursuing a claim for stress at work. Proceedings were issued, and we alleged that the Council had failed in their duty of care to our client and, among other things, had exposed her to an unnecessary risk of injury. Although the Council denied the allegations, several offers were exchanged, and the claim ultimately settled for £72,500 — allowing our client to move on with her life.
She was pleased that the matter had finally concluded after almost seven years.
What is a Stress at Work Claim?
Stress at work claims can be challenging to prove, as you must demonstrate that psychiatric injury was foreseeable by your employer.
To succeed, you must show that:
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Your employer breached their duty of care.
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Your working environment posed a real risk of causing illness, and your employer knew (or ought to have known) that you were exposed to that risk.
You’ll also need to prove that your employer was aware (or should have been aware) that the difficulties you were facing were serious enough to cause psychiatric illness.
When it comes to foreseeability, the courts have suggested that it depends on what your employer knew — or ought to have known — about your state of health. In more obvious situations, such as an employee regularly breaking down in tears, an employer would be expected to recognise that there may be a serious problem.
What Can You Do If You’re Stressed at Work?
We always recommend keeping a detailed diary of what’s happening — including who said what, and when. It’s also a good idea to follow up any verbal conversations with an email, for example:
“Following on from our chat, this is my understanding of what we discussed…”
It’s important to make your employer aware of any difficulties you’re facing. If you don’t raise the issues, it may be difficult to prove foreseeability later on.
How Can We Help?
Our team has extensive experience in stress at work claims and can guide you through every step of the process.
Alisha Butler
Get in touch with us for a confidential chat about your options.
You can email ab@phoenixlegalsolicitors.co.uk or call 0151 306 3694 a book a free telephone consultation with Alisha Butler.
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