Highlights
- 3.37 m people could leave work due to ill health by 2035.
- Economic damage could reach £36bn a year without action.
- Calls for new workplace health rules to protect all UK workers.
This represents a 26 per cent jump over the next decade and could cost the economy as much as £36 billion each year. Workers are leaving their jobs mainly because of joint and muscle problems, mental health issues and heart disease. Currently, 185m working days are lost to sickness yearly, costing £100 bn.
The figures match government data showing nearly 800,000 more working-age people cannot work now due to health reasons compared to 2019, a 40 per cent rise. The Keep Britain Working review shows that health conditions limiting work have jumped by over 2 million since 2019. One in five working-age people now have a health problem affecting their work.
Call for action
"The UK's productivity crisis is one of the biggest challenges facing our economy and long-term health conditions in the workforce are a major factor in this," said William Roberts, chief executive of RSPH. In the past workplace health has been seen as a tick box exercise for white collar workers. We need a fundamental shift in how we see the role of employers in keeping people healthy backed up by a national standard that covers all UK employees, he added.
Jamie O'Halloran from IPPR told The Guardian "Investing in staff especially in line managers benefits both employees and employers. It improves workers' health and wellbeing while strengthening the overall health and performance of the business."
The government wants to get two million more people into work.
Forecasts suggest 600,000 extra people could stop working by 2030 if things don't change, adding £25bn to disability benefit costs by 2029-30.
