NEWS,15.08.2012

U.K. Recession Drives More Than 1,000 To Suicide: Study

 

A painful British economic recession, rising unemployment and biting austerity measures may have driven more than 1,000 people in England to commit suicide, according to a scientific study published on Wednesday.The study, a so-called time-trend analysis which compared the actual number of suicides with those expected if pre-recession trends had continued, reflects findings elsewhere in Europe where suicides are also on the rise."This is a grim reminder after the euphoria of the Olympics of the challenges we face and those that lie ahead," said David Stuckler, a sociologist at Cambridge University who co-led the study, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).The analysis found that between 2008 and 2010 there were 846 more suicides among men in England than would have been expected if previous trends continued, and 155 more among women.Between 2000 and 2010 each annual 10 percent increase in the number of unemployed people was associated with a 1.4 percent increase in the number of male suicides, the study found.The analysis used data from the National Clinical and Health Outcomes Database and the Office of National Statistics.Keith Hawton, a professor at the Centre for Suicide Research at Oxford University who was not involved in the study, said its findings were "of considerable interest and certainly raise concerns", but that they must be interpreted carefully."It is also important that they are not over-dramatised in a way that might increase thoughts of suicide in those affected by the recession," he said in an emailed comment.Stuckler, who worked with researchers from Liverpool University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, stressed while this kind of statistical study could not establish a causal link, the power of the associations was strong. Its conclusions were strengthened by other indicators of rising mental health problems, stress and anxiety, he added.He also pointed out the study showed a small reduction in the number of suicides in 2010 which coincided with a slight recovery in male employment.A survey of 300 family doctors published by the Insight Research Group on Tuesday found that 76 percent of those questioned about the effects of the economic crisis said they thought it was making people unhealthier, leading to more anxiety, abortions and alcohol abuse.Data this month from the government's Health and Social Care Information Centre showed the number of prescriptions dispensed in England for antidepressants rose 9.1 percent in 2010.A study published last July, also by Stuckler, found that across Europe, suicide rates rose sharply from 2007 to 2009 as the financial crisis drove unemployment up and squeezed incomes.The countries worst hit by severe economic downturns, such as Greece and Ireland, saw the most dramatic increases in suicides.In Britain, there's little doubt times have been getting harder. The economy has shrunk for the last nine months and now produces 4.5 percent less than before the economic crisis.Many Britons have had the worst squeeze in living standards for 40 years and the crisis has hit young people hard, with youth unemployment soaring above 20 percent.Stuckler's BMJ study found that the number of unemployed men rose on average across Britain by 25.6 percent each year from 2008 to 2010, a rise associated with a yearly increase in male suicides of 3.6 percent."Much of men's identity and sense of purpose is tied up with having a job. It brings income, status, importance..." Stuckler said in a telephone interview."And there's also a pattern in the UK where men are three times more likely to commit suicide than women, while women are much more likely to report being depressed and seek help."Hawton noted that increases in suicides at times of economic recession had been reported before - for example in the Great Depression of the 1930s and in the economic downturn in South-east Asia during the 1990s.The World Health Organisation estimates that every year, almost a million people die from suicide - a rate of 16 per 100,000, or one every 40 seconds. It also estimates that for every suicide, there are up to 20 attempted ones.

HSBC gives US staff details for tax probe

Global bank HSBC has handed over details of current and former employees to the US authorities, it confirmed today, as part of a tax probe that almost sank rival bank UBS in 2009.As a result the bank could now face legal action from individuals whose details have been revealed, lawyers representing them said.In a letter to them seen by Reuters, the bank said it had passed on documents, in which their names appear, on the request of US authorities looking to hunt down US citizens with untaxed money held in Swiss accounts.After passing on a first set of documents earlier this year, HSBC has sent the new batch to the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission in an effort to reach a settlement over the investigation.HSBC lawyer Lenz & Staehelin has told lawyers acting for these employees that the documents included the minutes of executive, board and audit committee meetings, client visit reports, emails and other correspondence "We have submitted further information to the US authorities but it concerns the initial enquiry from December 2011. Client information has clearly not been submitted," HSBC Private Bank spokesman Medard Schoenmaeckers said by telephone.Banks including HSBC, Credit Suisse and Julius Baer have already passed on about 10,000 employee names in an attempt to avoid the fate of private bank Wegelin, which broke up in January under threat of indictment, bank employees and lawyers said.Credit Suisse said its cooperation with the US authorities was also in the interests of the bank and its employees. Baer declined to comment.Lawyer Douglas Hornung, who has filed a complaint against HSBC on behalf of its former chief legal counsel, said banks who handed employee names to US authorities infringed the criminal code and Swiss privacy laws.HSBC has avoided breaching strict Swiss banking secrecy laws by redacting from the documents any information that could lead to the identification of clients, said Lenz & Staehelin in a letter to lawyers acting for current and former employees of the bank.In 2009 the Swiss authorities reached a deal for UBS to pay a fine of $780 million to avert criminal charges, and ultimately agreed to allow the bank to reveal details of around 4,450 clients.Hornung said banks that hand over employee data to US officials are hoping to reduce the potentially huge fines they might face if they are found to have helped US clients avoid tax."HSBC could face a much higher fine than UBS, $1.3 to 1.4 billion would be logical. In cooperating HSBC can expect the fine to be lowered significantly," said Hornung.The benefit of such a reduction for cooperating would far outweigh anything the banks would have to pay for breaching obligations to employees in Switzerland, where the maximum fine is 5 million Swiss francs ($5.15 mln) and there are no punitive damages, Hornung said.A spokeswoman for the Swiss Attorney General confirmed that a legal complaint against HSBC had been received and said it was considering whether to open an investigation.A former HSBC employee, who asked not to be named, told Reuters he had never dealt with US clients and only realised US officials had his name during a background check when he was shortlisted for a new banking job.He was not offered the job."It can be difficult to inform former employees because as a company we don't keep records of their whereabouts. If they contact us, then we do inform them," Schoenmaeckers said.But Hornung, a partner at Geneva-based Hornung Avocats, said allegations of professional damage might be hard to prove."I have spoken to five or six people in the same situation, which means there is some chance of demonstrating a direct link between being on the list and difficulties in finding further employment," said Hornung.Bruno Seeman, a lawyer from small but locally renowned Zurich law firm Anwaltsbuero Landmann who is representing another former HSBC employee, said those wishing to sue the bank were unlikely to get any help from the largest law firms."The big five in Switzerland are all employed by the large banks, all the big commercial law firms with the capacity and know-how to act against big Swiss organisations cannot do so because it would be a conflict of interest," Seemann said."The effect is to prevent employees from approaching them because these law firms can't act against existing clients."