British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced plans to tighten regulations regarding long-term sick leave, aiming to address a concerning trend of Britons permanently exiting the workforce. Sunak expressed worry over the increasing number of individuals not working due to mental health conditions, asserting on the need for a more ambitious approach to facilitate their return to work.
In excerpts from a forthcoming speech, Sunak highlighted the decline in labour force participation among working-age Britons, attributing it to a surge in long-term illness cases and a higher number of students, a contrast to trends observed in other large, affluent nations since 2020.
“We need to be more ambitious about helping people back to work and more honest about the risk of over-medicalising the everyday challenges and worries of life,” stated the Indian origin PM.
Official data reveals that approximately 9.4 million Britons aged 16 to 64, constituting 22 per cent of the age group, are neither employed nor actively seeking employment. Among them, 2.8 million are on long-term sick leave, while 206,000 are temporarily ill.
Sunak’s proposed measures aim to address concerns regarding the over-medicalisation of everyday life challenges and the prevailing culture surrounding sick notes. His office insisted on the need to shift focus from approving extended sick leave to assisting individuals in returning to work, potentially transferring responsibility for assessments from general practitioners to healthcare professionals tasked with providing objective evaluations of individuals’ work capabilities and tailored support for their reintegration into the workforce.
Sunak highlighted the necessity of transforming the default mindset from focusing on what individuals cannot do to exploring what tasks they can perform. “We don’t just need to change the sick note, we need to change the sick note culture so the default becomes what work you can do – not what you can’t,” mentioned PM Sunak.
