Mental health sick leave is crippling Britain’s economy, and it accelerated after lockdowns

The country’s mental health crisis has been steadily rising over the past two decades, but the past three years have seen a rapid escalation of the problem Britain’s workforce is unwell. Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show an estimated 185.6 million working days were lost because of sickness or injury in 2022. And the number of people off work due to long-term sickness has risen to another all-time high, at 2.5 million, over the three months to February this year. The sickness absence rate for those with long-term health conditions is at its highest point since 2008, the figures also show, at 4.9 per cent. Comment: The year 2008 is notable because that was the wake of the financial collapse of 2007/8, with the accompanying job losses and merciless cuts to public spending and government programs. Earlier this week, an employment tribunal in Berkshire dismissed one extreme case: Ian Clifford, a senior IT worker on sick leave since 2008, had tried to sue…