Spiralling sick leave is blamed on mental illness and long Covid as 36% of working-age people have a long-term health condition

Spiralling sick leave is blamed on mental illness and long Covid as 36% of working-age people have a long-term health condition Surging rates of depression and anxiety – along with the rise of long Covid – are driving up the number of Britons on long-term sick leave.

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed there were more than 2.5 million people not working due to ill health in the first three months of 2023 – a rise of 400,000 since the start of the pandemic.

It comes against a background of increasing chronic illness, with 36 per cent of all working-age people reporting to be living with at least one long-term health condition – up from 31 per cent in the first quarter of 2019. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Rising ill-health and economic inactivity due to long-term sickness, UK: 2019 to 2023 Office for National Statistics