The Intermediary – June 2025 - Flipbook - Page 77
B RO K E R B U S I N E S S
Opinion
Mental health
deserves more
than polite nods
M
ental Health
Awareness Month
has once again
drawn to a close.
Awareness is
good. It’s helpful
to acknowledge that stress, burnout
and anxiety aren’t just things that
happen to other people, in other
jobs, in different industries. They
happen here within the mortgage and
financial advice community, and more
oen than many might admit.
But as ever, ‘awareness’ risks
becoming the end of the conversation
rather than the beginning.
If you’re an independent financial
adviser (IFA) or mortgage broker,
you don’t need a campaign to tell
you what pressure looks like. You’re
already living it. You’re geing the
late-night texts from clients. You’re
trying to explain for the fih time why
a missing payslip holds up the whole
chain. You’re dealing with confusing
underwriter feedback, chasing
updates from people who don’t reply,
and scrambling to keep up with yet
another rate change while logging
continued professional development
(CPD) hours and answering your
network’s compliance queries.
Awareness won’t fix that. And
frankly, neither will a hashtag.
Speak freely
The Cherry forum is one of the few
places where advisers talk honestly.
It’s a long-running online discussion
space where they have their own area
to speak to peers, share experiences
and ask questions. What makes it so
useful is its informality.
People compare notes, test ideas,
and sometimes let off steam. Because
there’s a completely separate section
where providers can post in their
own forums, it’s one of the few places
where both sides of the industry can
get a clear picture of what’s working,
and what isn’t.
In a recent discussion, advisers
talked about the pressure of trying to
be ‘always on’. Answering queries out
of hours, keeping up with product
changes with lile notice, and acting
as the single point of contact.
There was a call for more
meaningful interaction. If a document
is being declined, say why. If a case is
being rejected, explain what failed.
It’s the silence, not the decision, that
causes the most stress. Others pointed
to the mental toll of working alone,
juggling family responsibilities, and
planning time off like it’s a military
operation. All while trying not to drop
the ball on live cases.
Some advisers gave credit to
providers geing the basics right.
Knowledgeable people on the phone,
clear comms, decisions that actually
make sense. It is possible, just not
widespread.
Day-to-day
According to the fih annual survey
conducted by the Mortgage Industry
Mental Health Charter (MIMHC),
21% of mortgage professionals said
their mental health was ‘poor’ or ‘of
concern’. 62% are now working more
than 45 hours a week. A good chunk
are doing over 60. This isn’t rare.
It’s not unusual. And it’s not being
exaggerated. It’s just what being an
adviser looks like for a lot of people.
When we see shiny campaigns
about mental health, the question
isn’t ‘why are they doing this?’ It’s
‘what are they actually doing, and how
responsible are they in the first place?’
The truth is, most advisers aren’t
asking for mindfulness apps or
wellbeing webinars. They’re asking
for working life to be less ridiculous.
DONNA HOPTON
is director at Cherry
If a case is being declined, tell them
why. Don’t just mark it ‘incomplete’
and disappear. If a client’s paperwork
isn’t right, say what’s wrong. Don’t
make them guess. If a call centre is the
adviser’s main point of contact, try
to get people who know what they’re
talking about. If someone’s gone out of
their way to build a relationship, don’t
keep moving the goalposts.
None of this is revolutionary. But it
would make a big difference.
To be clear, advisers and providers
need each other, and plenty of
providers are trying to improve things.
What’s being flagged here isn’t
about who’s to blame. It’s about how
the day-to-day machinery of the
industry grinds people down. If you
want to support mental health, fixing
that machinery is a good place to start.
That doesn’t mean solving every
problem. It means starting with the
ones you already know about.
More than aware
The problem with awareness is that it
can feel like action without actually
doing anything. It’s like updating your
profile picture or liking a post. It gives
you a sense of involvement, of having
made a contribution, when really
nothing’s changed.
Advisers don’t need more posts.
They need less chaos. Until things
improve, until the basic stuff works
beer, talking about wellbeing won’t
go very far. The people who most need
support will still be stuck fighting fires
and wondering if anyone’s listening.
If the industry wants to show
it’s serious about mental health,
start with what advisers have been
saying for years. Think prevention,
not cure. ●
June 2025 | The Intermediary
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