More than four in five people claiming disability benefits have not worked for the past two years, according to analysis highlighting Britain’s sick leave crisis.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the figures illustrate the challenge facing the Government as it aims to get more people back to work and boost growth.
It came as separate official figures showed the number of people out of work due to long-term illnesses has fallen slightly to 2.75 million, the lowest level for almost a year, although still close to record levels.
The IFS said getting more disability benefit claimants back to work was an “understandable goal” after their numbers rose 28 per cent to 3.2 million since 2019.
IFS figures show that only 5.1 per cent of disability benefit claimants were working, while 82.9 per cent had not worked in the last two years.
More than four in five people claiming disability benefits have not worked in the past two years, analysis shows
Britain has been suffering its longest sickness absence epidemic for a quarter of a century and younger and older workers are driving the trend, new analysis shows.
“The longer a person is out of work, the less likely they are to return to work,” the report says.
It also said 83 percent of applicants were laid off with “the most severe level of disability,” meaning they “are likely a long way from re-entering the job market.”
Eduin Latimer of the IFS said: “There are unlikely to be easy solutions to the growing percentage of the population out of work due to health problems.”
The news comes after an earlier report found that unemployment due to long-term illness has risen six-fold in some parts of Britain since before Covid.
In July, those languishing at home due to illness peaked at 2.8 million, up about 700,000 before the pandemic hit the country.
Rising rates of mental illness have fueled the “economic inactivity crisis”, which Labor has promised to tackle as part of its plans to boost the economy and save taxpayers billions in welfare payments.
Surprisingly, young people are now just as likely to be out of work due to long-term illnesses as people in their 40s, according to the Resolution Foundation.
MailOnline’s analysis of official statistics shows that more than 14 per cent of Dover’s working-age population is now estimated to be “economically inactive” due to long-term illness, or 9,700 people.
In comparison, the figure was almost 2.5 per cent in 2019-20.
And earlier this year it was revealed that soaring workplace illnesses are costing UK businesses an extra £30bn a year and sick days have doubled since 2018, reveals a report.
Employees now call in sick an average of 6.7 days a year, up from 3.7 days six years ago.
This means the annual cost of staff absence has risen by £5bn over this period, analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research has revealed.
However, the biggest cost to businesses comes from “presenteeism”, when Britons turn up to work despite being unwell and unable to give their best, think tanks say.
Their report says that a typical employee now loses the equivalent of 44 days of productivity a year due to working sick.
Researchers found this is up from 35 days since 2018, with the extra days of downtime generating profits of £25bn a year.
IFS data also revealed a 150 per cent increase in new disability claims by under-40s over the past four years, and a sharp rise in the number of claims for mental health benefits.
The research highlighted how benefit claims are rising at a much faster rate in Britain than elsewhere, although other comparable countries have also seen an increase in reported disability cases.