It found that bank workers were most likely to discriminate against someone with mental illness.

Almost half of respondents (46 percent) working in this sector were either reluctant to employ someone with mental illness because they'd be unreliable or worried that they'd get the blame for employing them if they went off sick.

This is worrying for members of the banking industry, a sector hit by the recession, when they attempt to get new jobs, said a release of Time to Change.

Andy Harley, 37, worked for six years as a business analyst for a bank, until he developed depression and gave up work for a year to get better. He undertook 150 interviews before he could get another job.

Sue Baker, director of Time to Change, which commissioned the survey, said: We need to be able to have a discussion about mental health problems in the workplace, and to put an end to discriminatory attitudes that prevent capable people from working.

The survey was evaluated by the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College, London.