Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the effect of long-term sickness on economic productivity in each of the last five years.

The specific information requested on economic productivity is not held by the Department.

According to the latest figures from the Labour Force Survey (LFS, INAC01 SA), the number of working age (16-64) people who state their main reason for being economically inactive as long-term sickness is 2.5 million, or 28% of the total inactive population.

Long-term sickness is now the most common main reason for being economically inactive and accounts for 65% of the increase in economic inactivity since the start of the pandemic.

Source: INAC01 SA: Economic inactivity by reason (seasonally adjusted) - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)