Stress and Mental Health at Work: When Can You Claim?

Quick Summary

• Stress claims are a genuinely harder category of claim than most physical injury claims — the law requires the psychiatric harm to you specifically to have been reasonably foreseeable to your employer, not just that your job was demanding
• Employers are generally entitled to assume you can cope with normal job pressures unless they knew, or should have known, about a particular vulnerability
• The strongest claims usually involve clear evidence that you raised the problem — to a manager, HR, or occupational health — before you became unwell, or that you had a previous, known episode
• This is different from PTSD following a specific traumatic accident, which is generally an easier category of claim to establish — see our separate guide on that

Can I claim for work-related stress?

It's possible, but this is honestly one of the harder categories of personal injury claim to succeed with, and it's worth understanding why before deciding whether to pursue one. UK courts apply ordinary negligence principles to workplace stress claims — following the leading case of Sutherland v Hatton — which means you need to show your employer owed you a duty of care, breached it, and that the breach caused a genuine, diagnosed psychiatric injury.

The key difficulty is foreseeability. The law asks whether psychiatric harm to you specifically — not to employees in general — was reasonably foreseeable to your employer. Employers are generally entitled to assume an employee can withstand the normal pressures of their job, unless they were aware, or ought reasonably to have been aware, of a particular vulnerability or a problem that had already started to emerge.

What makes a stress claim stronger?

• You raised the issue before you became unwell. Telling a manager, HR, or occupational health that you were struggling — and having that go unaddressed — is often central evidence.
• A previous episode. If you'd suffered a work-related stress-related illness before and your employer knew, a second episode without reasonable adjustment is more clearly foreseeable.
• Specific, identifiable triggers. An unmanageable, employer-created situation — persistent bullying, an unsustainable workload despite repeated warnings, harassment that wasn't acted on — is stronger than general "the job was hard."
• A formal diagnosis. As with any psychiatric injury claim, a diagnosis from a GP, psychiatrist, or psychologist is central — general unhappiness at work, without a diagnosed condition, isn't a claim.

What makes a stress claim weaker or unlikely to succeed?

• The stress was a sudden, unforeseeable reaction with no prior warning signs your employer could reasonably have picked up on
• General dissatisfaction with the job, workload, or management style, without evidence a specific, addressable problem was raised and ignored
• No diagnosed condition — general low mood or tiredness, while genuinely difficult, doesn't meet the legal threshold on its own

What should my employer have done if I raised concerns?

Once an employer is, or should be, aware of a risk to your mental health, they're expected to take reasonable steps proportionate to the risk — which can include adjusting your workload, providing support such as counselling or occupational health referral, or in some cases making broader changes to your role. What's "reasonable" depends on the employer's size and resources and the competing demands on them — this isn't a claim area with a fixed checklist, and each case turns on its own facts.

What evidence should I gather?

• Any written record of raising concerns — emails, messages, meeting notes, HR complaints
• Occupational health referrals or reports, if any were made
• GP records showing when symptoms began and what you reported
• A formal diagnosis, where one exists
• Evidence of workload, targets, or specific incidents that contributed to the situation

Frequently asked questions

Is this the same as a claim for PTSD after an accident at work?

No, and it's a genuinely different legal test. PTSD following one specific traumatic accident is generally more straightforward to establish, because it flows from an identifiable event caused by your employer's breach. A general stress claim requires the harder foreseeability test above. See our guide on PTSD after a workplace accident for that separate situation.

What if I never told anyone I was struggling?

This is genuinely one of the harder scenarios for a stress claim specifically, because foreseeability usually depends on your employer knowing or reasonably being expected to know. It doesn't automatically rule out a claim, but it's an honest factor a solicitor will need to assess with you.

Should I get an honest assessment before deciding whether to pursue this?

Yes — given how fact-specific this area is, a free assessment is the best way to find out honestly whether your particular situation has the elements that make a stress claim viable, rather than guessing based on general information.

Considering a claim for work-related stress?

A specialist solicitor can give you an honest view of your specific situation — including if the evidence doesn't currently support a strong claim.

Free case assessment

Or call 01228 272395 to speak to Edward & Amaury Solicitors (SRA number: 800525). No upfront cost and nothing to pay if your claim does not succeed.