welcome to October’s round-up!
This month, we're putting the spotlight on workplace mental health tools, a significant topic that we’re seeing a lot of in our pipeline, and asking what it takes for workers to actually use them.
With the Budget landing earlier this week, we’ve also pulled out the highlights for founders and investors, alongside the Resolution Foundation’s overnight analysis.
And as ever, we’ve rounded up the most exciting updates from the WorkerTech world, from demo days to new market reports.
See you next month,
Aish
Mind the trust gap: Workplace mental health provision and worker attitudes
An increasing number of employees in the UK are offered mental health support at work. Only a small number use it.
Two new surveys, results of which were released earlier this month give insights into why.
In August and September of this year, Kara Connect, a UK-based wellbeing provider surveyed 2,010 UK employees, and found that while 91% of those employees have access, only 37% would turn to a mental health support tool via their employer. Around a third (32%) worried it would affect their career.
Also released this month was AXA Global Healthcare’s Mind Health Report, which surveyed 19,000 people across 18 countries. It found that while some of the concerns found among UK employees (in Kara Connect's report) were also present across the world, access was limited. While 84% of those surveyed said they would probably or definitely use at least one form of workplace support if it were available. Only 41% say they have access. 33% of the people surveyed reported concerns that talking about mental health at work would affect job security.
This tells us that there is a design problem at the centre of workplace mental health tools and platforms: trust.
Another piece of evidence that supports our conclusion is found in the Keep Britain Working Review (see section: Culture of Fear), led by Sir Charlie Mayfield, asks employers to share responsibility for health at work. Mayfield has highlighted that a barrier to keeping in work is a widespread culture of fear - employees dealing with early-stage mental health struggles fear that disclosing the same will lead to stigma, discrimination or negative consequences for their career prospects. On the other side, line managers reported being wary of doing the wrong thing in response to such disclosures, and exposure to tribunal action.
Therefore, when it comes to evaluating workplace mental health solutions in our pipeline, we look closely at what workers are being asked to disclose, what the technology is tracking and, crucially, what employers can see.
We also want to see responsible pathways for workplace mental health management; this means just as much of an emphasis on the course of action post disclosure or a flag of worsening mental health as is put on the data collection and evaluation.
As the guidance from Sir Mayfield's Review starts becoming practice, we expect to see renewed demand for workplace mental health provision tools. Take-up and participation rates will be key to employers assessing a return on investment in such tools, as will the availability of tools and guidance that help line managers support employees that are experiencing mental health strains.
The consequences of ignoring mental health at the workplace may be an early exit, or worklessness. This is especially true for young people, as was discussed in 2024 in research published by the Resolution Foundation, funded by the Health Foundation. The research found that the number of young people workless due to ill health has more than doubled over the past decade, from 93,000 to 190,000, and that people in their early twenties are now more likely to be economically inactive due to mental ill health than people in their forties. Workplace mental health tools that are focused on outcomes in terms of engagement and effective management are poised to succeed in helping solve this issue.
WorkerTech Highlights from the Autumn 2026 Budget
The Chancellor delivered his first Budget on the 28th of October, and as usual the Resolution Foundation's research team was hard at work producing an in-depth overnight analysis of the measures announced in the budget and what they mean for household incomes for the rest of this Parliament. More on that in the next section.
The Ventures team was on the lookout for announcements or changes affecting founders and startups. Here are a few highlights for the WorkerTech community:
The introduction of a new Founders Relief: Founders of 'high-growth, innovative' UK companies will pay 10% Capital Gains Tax on up to £10 million of lifetime gains when selling shares in their companies. The Chancellor announced a technical consultation for views on the design, criteria and the implementation of this Relief, responses to which are being sought till 30 November, 2026.
Young Entrepreneurs Allowance: The introduction of a pilot scheme to fund support towards living costs for young founders while they turn their ideas into businesses. Eligibility criteria or details of how to apply for the Allowance are yet to be announced.
More backing for women-led business: The Chancellor announced plans for a new scale-up programme to support female founders, as well as a new commitment from the British Business Bank to double its funding of women-led funds and business to £200 million.
More from the Resolution Foundation
Resolution Foundation's analysis of the Autumn 2026 Budget
Our overnight analysis of the Budget finds that higher debt interest costs leave the Government with just £14.5 billion of headroom, around three-fifths of its March level. The £4.4 billion cost of living package that was announced is thinly spread and poorly targeted: on average, it is worth less than £15 a year more to households in the poorest half of the income distribution than to those in the richest half.
Typical non-pensioner incomes are set to fall by 3 per cent (£1,050) between 2026-27 and 2028-29. Lastly, the extension of the Local Housing Allowance freeze into 2027-28 means over a million private renting families lose out, with 91 per cent of them in the bottom half of income distribution.
The headline recommendations following the analysis are that future Government cost of living support should be better targeted at lower-income households with high energy needs (rather than thinly spread across the income distribution) and that upcoming reviews of departmental spending and benefits spending will need to be more ambitious if the new Prime Minister and administration's vision is to be realised.
You can read our analysis in full here: Spread thin.
Real Living Wage update and new calculation method
The real Living Wage (a voluntary hourly pay rate based on what families need to get by) for 2026-27 is £14.10 across the UK and £15.45 in London. Calculated by the Resolution Foundation and overseen by the Living Wage Commission, this year’s rates use a new blended methodology, averaging Minimum Income Standard and relative poverty calculations.
Get involved
Baltic Ventures' Demo Day is back
Baltic Ventures has welcomed eight new companies onto its accelerator programme, and after 3 months on the programme, they are ready to take to the pitching stage. Baltic Ventures' mission is to identify and back ambitious and innovative founders outside of London's startup ecosystem, and this demo day will bring together founders, angels, VCs and ecosystem leaders from across Liverpool City Region and the UK. It's taking place on November 26th and you can register here.
Ufi Ventures and Tyton Partners release their Q3 2026 VocTech Market Report
This latest quarterly report explores how vocational learning and workforce development are changing across the UK, Europe and North America, from evolving skills policy and diverging forecasts of AI’s impact on jobs to where investment is landing. Read the key learnings here.
Apply for direct investment from Resolution Ventures
We accept applications from WorkerTech ventures on a rolling basis. You can book a slot in our office hours for an initial conversation.