Asked by: Lauren Edwards (Labour - Rochester and Strood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support older people to remain in work.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government knows that work helps everyone play active and fulfilling roles in society while building financial security for retirement. The Department is therefore committed to supporting older workers through a wide-ranging strategy that promotes inclusion, flexibility, and progression. This includes promoting age-inclusive practices, supporting workplace health, policy and service reform and removing age related barriers to employment. The Department has also signed up to and actively promotes the Age-Friendly Employer Pledge, encouraging employers to adopt flexible working, age-positive hiring, and career development.
Our Jobs and Careers service will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and help them progress in work or increase their earnings. The Jobs and Careers Service will incorporate principles of accessibility and inclusivity, acknowledging diverse support needs, including those of older individuals.
The Government also acknowledges the key role employers play in helping older individuals to remain in the workforce, and the importance of embracing policies conducive to this support. In recognition of employer's vital role, we have asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead an independent ‘Keep Britain Working’ review. This review is considering recommendations to support and enable employers to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces. This includes the perspectives of older people themselves, as well as input from organisations like the Centre for Ageing Better. Recommendations are expected in autumn 2025.
Asked by: Lauren Edwards (Labour - Rochester and Strood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the causes of economic inactivity related to poor health.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
There were 2.8m people who were economically inactive with long-term sickness as their main reason in the UK in April to June 2025.1 This group accounts for 30.7% of the total inactive population and is the most common reason given for inactivity; this percentage has increased by 5.6 percentage points since December to February 2020 but had been increasing since before the pandemic. The largest absolute increases have been for women, people with a long-term mental health condition and proportionately for people aged 18 to 34.2
At present, there is no conclusive evidence on the causes of poor health related economic inactivity. A range of complex and interacting factors could be driving the rise in economic inactivity due to long-term sickness including NHS waiting lists3,4, long COVID5 and changes in the demographics6 and health of the population7,8,9.
1 A01: Summary of labour market statistics - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
2 The employment of disabled people 2024 - GOV.UK
5 Self-reported long COVID and labour market outcomes, UK: 2022 - Office for National Statistics
6 Population changes and economic inactivity trends, UK: 2019 to 2026 - Office for National Statistics
9 What we know about the UK’s working-age health challenge - The Health Foundation