Lib Dems call on Hunt to reverse NHS cuts as long-term sickness blows £3bn black hole in budget 

Embargoed until 22.30 Sunday 3 March

• New Commons Library analysis reveals soaring cost to public finances of record numbers on long-term sick leave

• Lib Dems call on Chancellor to reverse “short-sighted” NHS cuts and put health at the heart of the Budget

Soaring levels of people out of work due to long-term sickness have blown a £3 billion black hole in Jeremy Hunt’s Budget, new research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

The party said it shows the soaring cost of the government’s neglect of local health services and failure to tackle NHS waiting lists, as thousands are left unable to work while they wait for NHS treatment.

The House of Commons Library analysis looks at the cost of the record numbers of people who are economically inactive due to long-term sickness. 

Each person out of work due to long-term illness costs an average of £5,200 in lost tax revenue, according to the Office of Budget Responsibility. The latest figures show a record 2.8 million people were out of work due to ill health in October to December 2023, up around 625,000 compared to the start of this Parliament in 2019. This means the rise in long-term sickness under this Conservative government has led to a staggering loss of around £3 billion in lost tax revenue in 2023-24.

The latest figures show that NHS waiting lists have grown almost 400,000 to 7.6 million since Rishi Sunak pledged to cut them last year, leaving thousands waiting for treatment and unable to work.

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Chancellor to cancel his planned £1.3 billion of real-terms cuts to NHS spending in 2024-25, adding that it was “disastrously short-sighted” to be slashing health funding when so many people are on long-term sick leave. The party said  Jeremy Hunt should instead put “health at the heart of the Budget” to get the economy firing on all cylinders again.

Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said:

“Rishi Sunak’s failure to cut NHS waiting lists is damaging the economy and blowing a hole in the public finances. Millions of people are struggling to see a GP or waiting months in pain for hospital treatment, with record numbers on long-term sick leave.

“This chronic neglect of our health services by successive Conservative ministers is creating a sick economy and preventing our great country from reaching its full potential.

“Jeremy Hunt needs to put health at the heart of the Budget and cancel his disastrously short-sighted cuts to NHS spending. We cannot get the economy firing on all cylinders again without fixing the health crisis, tackling the NHS backlog and helping people back to work.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor

Full House of Commons Library research is available here.

The Autumn Statement set out day-to-day spending on NHS England in Table 2.1. When converted into real-terms (2023-24 prices) using the Office for Budget Responsibility’s GDP Deflator (in Table 1.7 of the Economic Supplementary Tables here), this shows a fall of £3.5 billion in 2023-24 and a further £1.3 billion in 2024-25.