The UK workforce faces a complex web of health and employment challenges that could result in more people prematurely leaving the labour market. While Covid-19 may have accelerated this trend, the underlying drivers pre-date it – the number of people with a work-limiting health condition has grown by 2.5 million (41%) in the last decade.

These trends present substantial economic, financial and social challenges to the UK. And put at risk the Government’s commitment to increasing the national employment rate to 80% to help drive economic growth and risk further accelerating welfare and health related public spending in the years to come.

The Government has so far prioritised action to support and incentivise more of those who have left the labour market due to ill health to return to work. But there remains a significant need to stem the flow of people leaving the labour market due to ill health in the first place.

The Government has appointed Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead a ‘Keep Britain Working Review’ of the role that the state and employers can play in tackling health based economic inactivity and promoting healthy and inclusive workplaces.

This paper draws on a representative UK-wide survey of 3,796 working people to better understand the nature of health-related challenges facing the UK workforce in 2025.

Key findings include:

• One in 17 (6%) of participants reporting it was likely that they would leave their job in the next 12 months due to health reasons
• Workers already in poor health are twice as likely than workers in good health to say their job negatively affects their physical health and 1.5 times more likely to say it harms their mental health
• Job quality differences are stark between healthy and unhealthy workers. Only 44% of those in poor health have job autonomy, compared to 69% of those in good health. And just 27% of those in poor health have flexibility over their work location, compared to 53% of their healthy peers
• Workers on low incomes (earning under £25,000) are significantly less likely to have access to workplace policies known to support good health, than high-income (earning £60,000+) and middle-income (earning £25,000-£59,999) workers.
• Low-income workers are less likely to feel their employer is supportive of their health, with just half (51%) believing their employer would make adjustments if they developed a long-term health condition
• Nearly a quarter of workers aged 16–24 (23%) reported poor mental health, and are 1.5 times more likely to state this than any other age group. They are also the age category most likely to report that their job negatively impacts their mental health (34%)
• Two in five of young workers (43%) are worried that their declining health could push them out of work in the future.

Recommendations:

1. Increasing the level of workplace support available to those in poor health
2. Improving job quality among low-income workers
3. Providing substantial, additional support to young people to enter sustainable employment at the beginning of their working lives.

Read the full briefing here.

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