Today’s labour market data shows that long-term sickness continues to be the major driver of economic inactivity afflicting the UK’s business and wider economy as the NHS continues to buckle under the strain of pandemic-induced backlog.
 
377,681 more adults (age18-64) have become economically inactive (people who have not sought work in the last four weeks or are able to start in the next two weeks) because of a long-term sickness since the start of the pandemic.
 
Long-term sickness represents around 60% of the entire increase in inactivity which has grown by 629,652 compared to February 2020 and totals nearly 9 million people in total.
 
David Pye, a director at independent consultancy Broadstone, commented: “The UK continues to be afflicted by high rates of economic inactivity, which is being driven by soaring long-term sickness as the nation’s public health service struggles to cope with the pandemic-induced backlog. As we head into a winter where the trajectory of COVID is unknown, spiking energy bills are likely to cause health issues and waiting lists continue to grow, the pressures on the NHS are only likely to intensify.
 
“It means that businesses are suffering immense financial and productivity damage as employees struggle to access the healthcare they need to get back on with their jobs after suffering an illness. Employers must then either find suitably skilled replacements which sucks up time and money or deal with diminished numbers and face weaker performance levels.
 
“Businesses must proactively assess how they can best navigate this current crisis of inactivity. Given the pressures in the NHS, employer-provided private healthcare insurance will become increasingly sought after for those worried about how illness might impact their financial and personal situation.
 
“Putting in place measures like this will give workers the ability to quickly access treatment should they need it at an affordable cost. It can drive a transformative change in absenteeism which improves productivity, as well as having a broadly positive impact on wellbeing through the increased confidence in employees’ health and finances.”