Six out of ten financial advisers have suffered depression, anxiety, emotional distress or another mental health condition during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Only 30% of Personal Financial Society members polled online in January said their mental health had not been impacted by the pandemic.

According to a national survey by the Office for National Statistics in June last year, almost one in five people (19.2%) were likely to be experiencing some form of depression during the pandemic.

This figure had almost doubled from 9.7% the previous year.

Keith Richards, chief executive of the Personal Finance Society, said: “The impact of a global pandemic, and the social and economic restrictions it has brought, have been felt by us all collectively. Financial advisers throughout this pandemic have offered support to clients in vulnerable circumstances.

“To continue to support clients it is vital that financial advisers recognise and address their own mental health needs.

“To help our membership think about mental health as a component of their overall health, the Personal Finance Society will launch a mental wellbeing hub where they can find information about how they can care for themselves as well as their clients.

“To ensure clients in vulnerable circumstances are consistently and fairly treated, we have also launched the Financial Vulnerability Taskforce. Further educational material and insight relating to supporting clients in vulnerable circumstances will be produced by the taskforce’s steering committee.”