Today’s Budget measures encouraging people back to work are too little too late says the UK’s expert longevity think tank

Responding to today’s Budget, David Sinclair, Chief Executive at the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC), commented:

“Almost ten years ago ILC’s research highlighted the missing million – people over 50 forced to leave the workforce far earlier than they wanted to or could afford to. But successive governments failed to heed the warnings, and little was done to address the challenge.”

“With an estimated 2.5 million people on long-term sick, the situation is worse today than 30 years ago – and social, economic and health inequalities have worsened.”

“While scrapping the Work Capability Assessment might remove a significant barrier for some returning to work – for others, this is too little too late. We won’t be able to work if we don’t have the skills which employers demand. Initiatives such as ‘returnerships’, skills bootcamps and lifelong learning entitlements sound catchy, but we need to invest in learning for all ages and there should be no place for arbitrary upper age limits.”

“We also must do far more to make sure people don’t leave in the first place. We must support everyone through their working lives through investment in policies which prevent ill health, enable flexible working, encourage lifelong learning and financial planning.”

“The extension of free child care hours for children over nine-months and increasing wrap-around childcare will help with providing more flexibility for parents, but this budget lacks a fully joined up approach. Similarly abolishing the lifetime allowance for pension savings will encourage some to keep working for longer, but what we’d really like to see is a greater investment in preventing mental and physical ill-health. Countries that spend more than 6% of their health budget on prevention see significant and wider gains. Longer, healthier lifespans bring many benefits including more time spent in work, volunteering, caring and spending. All of which would provide the boost our economy desperately needs.”

Ends

Contact:

For press queries, please contact press@ilcuk.org.uk or +44 (0)208 638 0832. Spokespeople are available for interview.

Notes

Between 2014 and 2015 the ILC published three reports on its Missing Million research, undertaken with Business in the Community and PRIME, identifying more than a million people aged over 50 who were forced out of work involuntarily. The research has also found that barriers to returning to work, such as age-related bias and poor understanding among employers of the needs of older workers, led many to seek self-employment. The third and final report in the series provided recommendations for business and government to help people to stay in work for longer. The Missing Million – Recommendations for Action – ILCUK

The ILC-UK’s latest analysis of the UK Labour market over the last 30 years shows that despite increases in working age population the economy is not working to its full potential. https://ilcuk.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Labour-market-analysis_-final-Feb-23.pdf

The analysis conducted by Professor Les Mayhew and Dr Vivien Burrows shows:

• There are now only 1.7 economically active workers for each inactive adult aged 16+. Despite pension reforms and the removal of the default retirement age at 65, this level is the same as it was 30 years ago in 1992.
• Of the 8.9m inactive adults under 65, 2.5 million are long-term sick, almost a 0.5m increase since 2019.
• The population has grown by 18% since 1992. But while the number of economically active women has increased by 30.6%, the number of economically active men has increased by only 11.3%. Meanwhile, the number of women working full-time has increased by 49.2%, the number of men working part-time is up by 130%.
• The UK population is expected to grow to 72m by 2040. Since 1992, jobs in manufacturing have declined by 37%, while jobs in service sectors are up by 74%. Previous ILC research estimates a shortfall of 2.6m workers by 2030 – yet economic activity rates among 18-24 years olds are almost 50% of the level in 1992 exacerbating labour shortages elsewhere in the economy.

The research draws on ONS Labour Market Statistics up to December 2022 Labour market overview, UK – Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) and was supported by Bayes Business School (formerly Cass)

Previous ILC estimates of workforce shortages are available from: Plugging the gap: Estimating the demand and supply of jobs by sector in 2030 – ILCUK