The Thriving at Work report, co-written by Mind CEO Paul Farmer and Lord Dennis Stevenson and released earlier this week, tells us that the annual cost to the UK economy of poor mental health stands at £99bn and £42bn of this is a cost to employers. The report details that approximately 300,000 people per year lose their jobs due to long term mental health conditions.

This significant cost to the economy and the wellbeing of citizens is at the forefront of many activities within government, civil society and the private sector to address mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.

Nesta has been working at the forefront of sparking and enabling innovation and action in the area of mental health and most recently is supporting the development of the Inclusive Economy Partnership with the Cabinet Office and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Members of the Inclusive Economy Partnership including leading civil society organisations Mind, the Mental Health Foundation and the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, and private sector companies at the forefront of building an inclusive economy including Aviva, KPMG, Carillion, Landsec, Rolls-Royce and Dixon Carphone, are meeting regularly to develop unique and transformational partnerships to scale some of the best solutions to support action to enable businesses to positively impact the mental health of their employees, customers, suppliers and wider communities.

The Partnership wants to support businesses to implement changes within their organisations to improve mental health of their employees, develop mental health tools and training offerings that support employees and line managers and to improve the mental health of customers, communities, supply chains and SME networks. Over the next few months the Partnership will be working on plans to scale proven solutions in these areas that members are best placed to support.

As part of this process, the Partnership have launched an open call to any organisation working in one of the challenge areas, including mental health, which wants to be part of scaling their projects and programmes with members of the Partnership.

The closing date for applications is noon on 3 November 2017. Those who are shortlisted may get an opportunity to engage with some of the 100 corporates and civil society organisations.

There is £20,000 up for grabs for each successful applicant and this funding is specifically earmarked to help organisations develop their scaling plans with their new partners, and those who are selected will also get access to Partnership members.

To find out more, including how to apply, visit the Inclusive Economy Partnership website.