UK mulls no sick leave for workers in bid to boost economy

London: Workers in UK could be denied sick leaves as the government plans to tell doctors to sign fewer sick notes in a bid to boost the country’s economy . UK’s Treasury and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are instead looking at ways to “help” keep people deemed to be ill in office. As per Telegraph, one such plan is to think of a new approach as to how general physicians (GPs) describe “too sick to work”. In addition to this, doctors would be encouraged to highlight “benefits of work” and will be asked to deny sick notes that keep workers completely out of the labour market. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will table “getting people off out-of-work benefits” on UK’s budget day on 15 March. “The mental health benefits of work are well established. We want to do all we can to encourage as many people as possible to stay in work with the relevant support in place to help them do so, including signposting them to that support at the earliest possible opportunity,” said a source from the government. Shortage of workers hurting UK’s economy According to data released by the Labour Force Survey, as many as 2.32 million people were signed off from work owing to long-term illnesses last year, an increase from 1.95 million in 2019. Meanwhile, during the pandemic era, a number of people were signed off with mental illnesses like phobias. The government and Treasury officials believe that the number of people going out of work due to illnesses has played a major role in UK’s faltering economy . In addition to this, estimates by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Report of 2022 suggest that labour demand is now well above pre-pandemic levels but labour supply was still below pre-pandemic levels. According to the Office for National Statistics, between June and August 2022, around 2.5 million people in UK cited long-term illness as the main reason for their low participation in the economy. ‘Forcing sick people into work will make economy sick’ Emma Haslett, a UK-based journalist has said that the government’s plan to call in sick people for work is a bad idea. She told The New Statesman, “It doesn’t take an economist to explain why this idea is terrible. Firstly, sick people have not historically been known for their excellent rate of production. Pain, frailty and exhaustion are rarely conducive to workhorse-esque attitudes, so dragging people with chronic illnesses into the workplace is hardly going to fix the UK’s ongoing productivity crisis.” “Secondly, forcing people who are sick into work will, inevitably, lead to their illnesses becoming worse – putting even more pressure on the NHS,” she added. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.