Secure Work and Employer Support are Vital to Keep Britain Working

Once again, the UK has become the ‘sick man of Europe’, but this time in a very literal sense. The UK is currently the only G7 country with a smaller workforce than before the pandemic. This is due not to levels of unemployment, but the number of people who are economically inactive due to ill-health. This rise in health-related economic inactivity is putting pressure on the welfare system as the benefits bill rises but also contributes to worker shortages which are undermining the Government’s plan to grow the labour market and economy.

The reality is that most of us will know someone struggling with a mental or physical health issue that makes holding down a job a real challenge. Since the beginning of 2020, the number of people who have left the labour market altogether due to long-term illness has risen by 676,000, and now sits at a near record 2.8 million.  While the pandemic may have accelerated the rate at which people have left the labour market due to long-term sickness, the decline in health amongst the working age population is a longer-term trend.

In response, the Government is aiming to boost support for those who have fallen into economic inactivity due to long-term illness to find work through its Get Britain Working White Paper. Although they have announced a Keep Britain Working Review to assess how employers can keep people in work, there is still a lack of understanding of how to support workers with ill health to remain in work in the first place. Employers that fail to provide proper support to workers that experience ill-health can further exacerbate health conditions and leave workers with little choice but to drop out of work altogether.

Health issues are driving early exits from work, but it doesn’t have to be that way

New longitudinal research by the Work Foundation has found that nearly one in ten workers who experienced a decline in health leave work within four years. With almost half of these exits occurring within the first year of their health decline. Our findings also indicated that employees with poor mental health are nearly twice as likely to leave work following the onset of illness than those who report good mental health.

Access to flexible working arrangements is an aspect of job quality that is of critical importance to promoting good health and supporting employees in ill-heath. Our analysis revealed that employees without any flexibility in their job roles were four times more likely to leave work after a health decline, while those with low levels of control over their working hours, pace, tasks, order and work manner were 3.7 times more likely to leave their job.

The new Labour Government has plans to enhance existing rights regarding flexible work as part of its Employment Rights Bill – with the aim of making it the default and a day one right. However, these provisions will still allow employers considerable discretion in denying access to flexible working arrangements.

It would be instructive for the Government to look for inspiration from other nations who have led the way on flexible working. For example, in 1996 Finland introduced a law that allowed most workers to choose their start and end times within a three-hour window. And in 2019 they went a step further by-passing new legislation granting workers the right to work remotely for at least half of their working hours. Over 90% of Finnish companies offer flexible working, this figure is just 48% in the UK.

The role of job security in protecting health and wellbeing

Job security is another aspect of employment that is vital to workers’ health and wellbeing. Work Foundation research has found that currently one in five workers face severe insecurity at work, including a mix of low pay, unpredictable hours, poor protections, and temporary contracts. And we have previously found that workers in these roles are 1.4 times more likely than people in secure jobs to become unemployed or economically inactive due to ill health.

The Government’s Employment Rights Bill, which is currently progressing through Parliament, contains a series of promising measures to enhance job security. Including, day one protections from unfair dismissal, the ending of ‘exploitative’ zero-hour contracts, banning ‘unscrupulous’ fire and rehire practices, and greater trade union rights. However, only time will tell if the Government remains committed to delivering these ambitions reforms. 

Like many nations, the UK invests a huge amount of time and money in supporting people through schooling and then the further and higher education systems. It is therefore such a waste for workers, society and the economy when people fall out of work due to ill health when they don’t have to. In 2025, the Government must fulfil its commitment to improving employment conditions and work with employers to keep more workers in secure and sustainable employment when they face long-term sickness.

By George D. Williams, Policy and Research Analyst, Work Foundation at Lancaster University