NHS Confederation responds to ONS report on children living in long-term workless households

Responding to the Office for National Statistics report on children living in long-term workless households, Dr Layla McCay, director of policy at the NHS Confederation, said:

“This report paints a stark picture of the worrying scale of children living in long-term workless households, with more than eight in ten children in workless households living in homes where no adult has worked for the past year.

“The connection between long-term worklessness and poor health is well known. Children in workless households can face poorer education outcomes and future employment prospects – this risks further entrenching inequalities unless we can break the pattern. One area of focus for the government's Ten-Year Health Plan is on 'raising the healthiest generation of children ever.'

“But ill health also has a profound impact on wider economy as well as people’s lives. Our analysis with the Boston Consulting Group showed that getting between half and three-quarters of people who have dropped out of the workforce due to poor health since 2020 back into work could deliver a major boost to the UK’s GDP and unlock billions in fiscal revenue.

“Our members fully support the government’s ambitions to shift from treatment to prevention, as keeping people healthier for longer will reduce the risk of them needing to drop out of work. Through our NHS Work and Health Network, we are helping members and the government unlock the NHS’s full potential in tackling economic inactivity. Health system leaders are also already working with partners to build a comprehensive, whole-system approach to supporting people to get back into work.”