Number of People Out of Work Due to Long-Term Illness on the Rise

The number of people out of work due to long-term illness has surged across the country, marking a record hike, official data has revealed. From December 2023 to February 2024 there were 2,829 million long-term sick people in the UK, the Office of National Statistics has reported. An increase of 16,000 people, compared to the preceding quarter, was a record high in the data series on economic inactivity due to long-term illness. The economic inactivity rate, which is the proportion of people aged between 16 and 64 who are not in the labour force, has increased in the latest quarter and was also 22.2 percent above estimates of a year ago, the ONS said....