Employees in the UK without any flexibility in their job roles were four times more likely to leave work after a health decline, according to research from the Work Foundation at Lancaster University.   

The study tracked the employment journeys of 9,169 UK workers aged 16-60 from 2017/18 to 2021/22, focusing on those who became ill within the first two years of the study.  

Researchers found that 9% of employees who experienced a health decline left the labour market by the end of the four-year study period. Almost half of those employees left work within the first 12 months. Men were more likely to leave within the first year (4.7%) compared to women (3.9%).  

Meanwhile, those with low levels of control over their working hours, pace, tasks, order and work manner were 3.7 times more likely to leave their job. 

Researchers found that having multiple conditions increases the likelihood of workers leaving employment. Those with a single disability or health condition were 1.5 times more likely than those without a health condition or disability to leave work following a negative health transition. However, this likelihood of leaving work increases to 2.4 times for those with two disabilities or health conditions and increases to 5.6 times for those with three or more conditions. 

Workers with poor mental health who experience the onset of a disability or health decline are nearly twice as likely (1.9 times) than those with good mental health to leave their jobs.  

The research comes after the UK Labour government unveiled its Get Britain Working white paper on proposed reforms which seeks to address the root causes of unemployment and inactivity while also helping integrate health, skills and employment support for the specific needs of local communities.  

“If we do not consider the factors that drive people to leave in the first place, we risk treating the symptoms rather than the cause,” said Ben Harrison, director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, in a press release. “The evidence is clear that once someone leaves work due to ill health, it becomes increasingly more challenging to help them back into employment. To achieve the government’s ambition to boost the employment rate to 80%, we must take action to stem the flow of those leaving work due to sickness and find new ways to ensure they remain connected to the labour market.”