Long-term sickness levels need our care and attention

THE latest labour force data from the Office for National Statistics confirmed that the number of workers absent due to long-term sickness has risen significantly to its highest level ever.

That’s not just a concern for the individuals involved – particularly as they battle mental health issues, chronic conditions and type-2 diabetes – but for Government, business and the economy overall. Our own research points at £180bn of lost output, and millions of lost working days.

With a General Election fast approaching, it’s welcome to see politicians from across the spectrum grappling with an issue that has long concerned businesses. After some tough years for the economy, firms know that we can’t build a competitive economy without a resilient labour market – and that means prioritising the health of our people.

Given our National Health Service is already under severe strain, workers are increasingly looking to their employer to help. Many firms are doing great work in supporting employee health and wellbeing, but more could be done – especially in terms of prevention – with better incentives. That’s backed up by our research.

Business-led health interventions such as free health screening, employee assistance programmes and ergonomic assessments could contribute up to £36bn in output to the economy through a 20% reduction in the impact of ill-health on our collective workforce. One of the best places to start is implementing an ambitious expansion of tax-free occupational health support to incentivise businesses to invest in early workforce health interventions and prevent employees leaving the labour market.

Without urgent action the situation will only get worse and recent projections on future ill-health from the Health Foundation making for concerning reading. With many of the factors driving increased ill-health found to be related to income distribution, the need to increase prosperity across the country has never been more stark.

While economic data maybe starting to head in the right direction, with inflation coming down and the UK moving out of recession, things aren’t really rebounding quickly enough. We need thriving businesses to create the kind of high-paid, stable jobs that will boost incomes and help break the relationship with ill-health – as well as helping to fund essential public services.

Given the challenges many businesses face in accessing the people and skills they need, growing awareness of the need to tackle economic inactivity is clearly welcome. With such a complex and multifaced problem, we can’t afford to leave this to politicians and policymakers alone.

The virtuous cycle between better performing businesses, a growing economy, and a healthier and more resilient workforce is something we all aspire to. While that will likely take some time to deliver, we must prioritise more immediate solutions like boosting workplace health provision. With business ready to play its part, we need government to match that ambition with the incentives required to catalyse action.