More people are now out of work due to ill health than any other time since records began

Responding to the latest inactivity stats in the UK from the ONS showing that 2.55 million people are out of the labour market due to long-term sickness, Chris Thomas, head of IPPR's Commission on Health and Prosperity, said:

"More people are now out of work due to ill health than any other time since records began. This is a damning indictment of this government’s record on our health. Long-term sickness is fatally undermining our economy and holding back people’s ability to live long, happy and prosperous lives.

“The government need to stop viewing investment in good health as a cost to control and instead see it is the best medicine for our economic malaise. It’s time to make better health a core, central and cross-department mission of government: so we can tackle the NHS crisis, take bolder action on public health issues like obesity, and act on the root causes of poor health: including insecure work, poor quality housing and poverty.”