Long-term sickness and NHS pressures have damaged the UK workforce

UK government claimed to be ‘barking up the wrong tree’ by attempting to lure over 50s back to work who have retired early due to long-term sickness.

Rishi Sunak’s government has been attempting to get people who have retired to come back into employment to help with current chronic staff shortages, following a report which reveals long-term sickness and NHS pressures are having severe effects on the jobs market.  

The report has been published as Work and Pensions Secretary, Mel Stride, enters the final stages of an urgent review of options to boost workforce participation before next month’s financial budget is revealed.

Chancellor Jeremey Hunt is expected to use his budget next month to unveil measures designed to target more than half a million ‘economically inactive’ – when working age adults are neither in work nor looking for a job – people to return to the workplace.

However, the report has warned that Mr Hunt should focus on improving the NHS to get those who have been off due to long-term sickness back into employment. The government has so far focused on addressing early retirement, with the Chancellor urging the over-50s to get off the golf course.

Official figures released last week show unemployment rates have risen by 516,000 since the pandemic hit, but early retirement does not seem to explain it. The report also shows the total of long-term sick has increased by 353,000.

Overall it means there are now almost 2.5 million adults of working age who are long-term sick, data from the Labour Force survey reveals.

Sir Steve Webb, the former Pensions Minister and Co-Author of the report, said: ‘We were gobsmacked by what we found. It turns out there are fewer earlier retired today than at the start of the pandemic. You wouldn’t believe that from ministers’ speeches and talk of getting people back off the golf course.

‘This could reflect NHS pressures as those who would otherwise have been treated or had their chronic condition better managed and able to work now find themselves ‘long-term sick’ as they wait for treatment or live permanently in poorer health.’

Over recent months, ambulance crews have found themselves queuing outside of hospitals due to major shortages of hospital beds and a lack of staff to see to patients, meaning wait times for 999 calls have increased as well as emergency departments.

Additionally, the Chancellor has also been exploring options to reduce childcare costs in an attempt to get parents back into full-time work. A survey of 1,000 parents with children under four, commissioned by the group, found 63% would delay having or not have another child due to increased childcare costs. 

Almost half said their childcare provider had increased their fees in the past six months, while 32% also said they were cutting down on essentials such as groceries to afford childcare costs.

To combat this, Jeremy Hunt proposed the option of extending 30 hours of free childcare to one and two-year-olds in England, but this was rejected on government cost grounds. 

A government spokesperson said: ‘We’re considering a range of factors to address inactivity, and further details on this will be set out in due course’. 

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya and Kelli McClintock