UK ‘sliding into avoidable workplace sickness crisis’

The UK is’sliding into an avoidable crisis, the author of a major review on how to keep people in work has warned as he urged a reduced reliance on fit notes amid an enormous cost to employers from ill health among workers. Aine Fox and Henry Saker-Clark of the Press Association report

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> There are 800,000 more people out of work now than in 2019 due to health problems

A SOBERING report from former John Lewis boss Sir Charlie Mayfield has found that poor workplace health costs UK employers around £85bn a year.

It also warned that Britons being unable to work due to ill health is costing the country around 7% of GDP (gross domestic product).

Sir Charlie said there is “broad recognition that Britain is facing a quiet but urgent crisis” with ill health now one of the biggest drivers of economic inactivity.

His review, published on Wednesday, told of a culture of fear among workers around ill health, a lack of an effective or consistent support system for employers and employees in managing health, and structural challenges for disabled people.

He has proposed a new approach, where responsibility for health at work is shared between employers, employees and health services rather than being left to the worker and the NHS.

While Sir Charlie said employers must do more to help their employees, he warned that workers must play their part.

He wrote: “Work can be demanding. Setbacks are part of life. Health and work are not always easy partners, but they are mutually reinforcing”

Sir Charlie said that while supportive workplaces matter, “so does personal responsibility” as he warned that disengaging from work and potential support “leads to detachment and dependency”

He described fit notes - sometimes known as sick notes - as “often problematic” becoming a “barrier to contact, further embedding distance between employer and employee’

Sir Charlie said GPs are being asked to assess both the treatment needs of a patient and their capacity to work “despite most lacking occupational health training and time to get into sufficient detail’

He reiterated that 93% of fit notes are “often” extended without further consultation.