How Labour plan to get long-term sick population back to work

The government will soon set out plans to bring down the soaring number of people who are too sick to work.

One in 15 working-age people across the UK are now classed as ‘economically inactive’ – that is, not in a job or looking for one – because of long-term sickness.

That is a near-record 2.8 million people, many of whom have mental health problems.

Ministers have already committed to cutting spending on sickness benefits by £1.3 billion a year.

In last month’s budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged to stick to this level of savings, which had been planned by the previous Conservative government.

But disability campaigners say cutting benefits is not the way to help support people into work.

The number of people out of work because of sickness is up by 23% in the past eight years, with the years since the pandemic accounting for much of that rise, figures from the Office for National Statistics show.

And it’s younger people, those aged 16 to 24, who have seen the biggest rise – numbers up by a huge 72% in the past eight years.

However, to put this into context, while their numbers may have risen, young people are still the minority of those who are too sick to work.

Those aged 16 to 24 represent about one in ten of the people in this position, while those aged 50 to 64 represent about half.

Mental illness was the most common main condition reported, according to an ONS study from last year.

Other common conditions included problems or disabilities involving the back or neck and problems or disabilities involving the legs or feet.

However, many people said they had multiple health problems. Around two-thirds, 65%, reported three or more conditions.

This means that for many people, there are complex health reasons why they are not working – and efforts to get more of this group into work, as the government wants to do, could prove far more challenging than they look.

Words by: Claire Wilde