Sicknote Britain

Long-term illness hits a record high at 2.8million – more than DOUBLE the number of unemployed adults

THE state of ‘sicknote Britain’ was laid bare yesterday by figures showing long-term illness has hit record levels.

Data released by the Office for National Statistics revealed more than 2.8million are signed off ill long term and another 170,000 temporarily.

The total – for September to November last year – is more than double the 1.3million registered as unemployed.

It paints a stark picture of the state of the nation’s workforce, with 9.25million people ‘economically inactive’.

Of those in this category, 7.39million said they did not want to work. Among the 2.8million long-term sick, only 641,000 said they wanted a job. Numbers for long-term sickness have risen steadily since 2019 and now stand at a historic high.

The ONS defines someone as economically inactive if they are not in employment and have not been seeking work within the past four weeks and/ or are unable to start work within the next fortnight.

The Government defines employees who are off work ill for more than four weeks as long-term sick.

Hannah Slaughter, of the Resolution Foundation thinktank, said: ‘Britain has a bigger, but sicker, workforce than we previously thought.

‘Of particular concern is the fact that a record 2.8million people in the country are currently inactive due to ill health. Tackling rising ill health is a huge social and economic challenge that we’ll be facing throughout the 2020s, as will getting UK employment back up to, and beyond, pre-pandemic levels.’ John O’Connell, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘With nearly three million people not working due to long-term sickness, it’s not hard to see why we’re dubbed “sicknote Britain”.

‘Welfare should be a safety net for those who fall on hard times, but instead it’s too often seen as an alternative to working. Getting people back into employment isn’t just good for taxpayers but also for the people concerned too, so ministers must tackle this problem head- on before the costs really spiral out of control.’

More than 42million 16- to 64year-olds were in work, around 75 per cent of the population – broadly the same as in September to November 2022.

Of the economically inactive, 1.6million were looking after family and almost 2.4million were classed as students. The full statistics are due to be released next week. A report issued by the ONS at the end of 2022 indicated large increases in the number of 25- to 34-year-olds counted as long-term sick.

In April 2019 this cohort made up around 11 per cent of the total, but it was 14 per cent in April 2022. The difference amounts to another 97,000 people – 61 per cent of them men.

Meanwhile, civil servants took nearly 1.9million days off work in a single year due to long-term sickness, official figures show.

The number of days lost to long-term sickness in Whitehall rose from 1.39million in the year to March 2018, to 1.86million in the year to March 2022 – a 34 per cent rise.

Over that period, the civil service grew from 430,075 to 510,080 workers, an increase of 18.6 per cent. Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine, who uncovered the data, said: ‘These figures are deeply concerning.’

‘Welfare should be a safety net’

HOW did this country become so indolent? Once proud of our work ethic, figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest we are fast becoming a nation of slackers.

Leading the decline are civil servants, who racked up a staggering 1.8 million sick days between them last year. Little wonder that nothing in Britain seems to work properly.

But even this is dwarfed by the soaring numbers of the economically inactive – those of working age not in employment, many living wholly or partly on benefits.

More than 9.2 million now fall into this category, with 80 per cent saying they don’t want to work. Some 2.8 million of the total are categorised as long-term sick, a rise of around 700,000 since before the pandemic. The numbers beggar belief.

Some, of course, are genuinely disabled but is it really possible, in these days of high technology and working from home, that so many are incapable of doing ANY paid work? Or are they comfortable enough on benefits not to have to try?

The Tories began their 14-year period in office trying hard to tackle welfare dependency. Sir Iain Duncan Smith’s crusade to get people off benefits and into work produced impressive early results.

But all those gains have since been frittered away. Since the pandemic ministers have failed miserably to get Britain back to work.

Indeed, they can’t even persuade their own civil servants to return to the office full-time. Work-life balance is all very well, but it does need to involve some work.

Nearly a year ago Chancellor Jeremy Hunt promised a plan of action to coax the economically inactive back to the workplace. So where is it?

The Left will characterise any welfare-towork scheme as scapegoating the sick and the poor. But the truth is that benefit dependency is corrosive to the spirit.

Many of the long-term sick say they are suffering from poor mental health. To find a fulfilling job may be the perfect cure.