More than 250 of Britain's biggest employers have signed up to a taskforce aimed at tackling the £212bn-a-year cost of long-term sickness – growth that the former John Lewis chair Sir Charlie Mayfield says is "hiding in plain sight".
Sir Charlie, who leads the 'Get Britain Working' group, told the BBC that getting people back into work who are currently signed off due to ill-health would be a simple way of boosting the workforce. "You wouldn't have had to build a single house, open a new channel of immigration, you wouldn't have to wait for a cohort of young people to join the workplace. This is basically growth hiding in plain sight," he said.
“Ex-John Lewis chair Sir Charlie Mayfield says tackling long-term sickness could unlock £212bn-a-year growth 'hiding in plain sight'.”
The companies that have signed up include British Airways, Tesco, Royal Mail, Sainsbury's, EDF Energy and Currys, as well as several government departments. Ten mayoral authorities, including London and Manchester, have also agreed to take part. They will track sickness absence, return-to-work outcomes and disability participation – data the government says will make workplace health performance visible for the first time.
Sir Charlie's comments come as pressure grows on the incoming prime minister, widely expected to be Andy Burnham later this month, to reduce the UK's welfare bill. Official figures show total welfare spending in Great Britain is forecast to be 23.6% of total government spending in the 2025-26 financial year. Sir Charlie said his plans could help cut that bill. "Fixing these problems at the fundamental level could make a really big contribution to getting this economy working better – for employers, for employees, for the taxpayer, for all of us," he said.
He argued that the initiative is not zero-sum: "It's not a question of employers win and employees lose and vice versa. Everybody can win." He suggested Burnham would back the plans, adding: "I can't see any reason why he wouldn't because of what Andy has said about good growth. If this isn't good growth, I'm not sure what is, quite frankly."
Sir Charlie highlighted a common failure in employer support: "I can't tell you how many people I've met who said: 'I was signed off work for three months, or six months, and I never had any contact with my employer at all.' That's not because the employer is a bad person. It's because we've got a situation at the minute where people don't talk to each other when they really need to."
The taskforce aims to prevent people dropping out of work due to ill-health and encourage those already signed off to return. But some employers have previously said that tax rises mean many firms cannot afford to invest, while others have warned against pushing ill people into work.