Official Statistics

Keep Britain Working 2015 to 2024

Published 19 March 2025

1. Introduction

The findings from the discovery phase of the Keep Britain Working independent review are due to be published in Spring 2025. These will contain previously unpublished data which are published here as ad-hoc Official Statistics in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

These statistics contain information on the stock and flow of people aged 16 to 64 in the UK who are:

• employed (including those off work sick)
• unemployed and economically inactive (including those who are inactive due to ill-health).

They cover the period 2015 to 2024 and are broken down by:

• age
• long-term health condition
• number of long-term health conditions
• disability status
• highest qualification level
• time since leaving last job
• upper tier local authority

2. Background

The Keep Britain Working review has been commissioned as a non-statutory independent review into the role of UK employers and government in tackling health-related inactivity and creating and maintaining healthy and inclusive workplaces. It will have a particular focus on working together to understand what employers and government can do to increase the recruitment, retention and return to work of disabled people and people with long-term health conditions, to ensure they have the skills to thrive in work and discover how that is best unlocked and supported.

The review will have two distinct phases: The first will be a discovery phase, with the aim of understanding the characteristics and drivers of rising levels of inactivity and ill health, the intersection with skill and qualification level, what employers currently do to help employ, train and retain disabled people and those with health conditions and how employers experience this in practice. This phase will aim to identify what is driving economic inactivity and where there is the greatest potential for employers and government to make a difference. The findings of this phase will be published, including the key questions and areas that are expected to be the focus for the second phase of the review. 

There is already a range of published data and evidence on sickness, health, employment, unemployment, and economic inactivity. This publication adds to that evidence base by including new information on health conditions that limit the amount or type of work people can do. It also includes new information on the likelihood of certain groups to be economically inactive due to ill-health and how likely these groups are to move into employment. The publication also includes projections of what would happen to employment, unemployment and economic inactivity if trends seen over the past 5 years continued to 2030.

3. Definitions

Employment and other labour market concepts used in this release are defined in the same way as National Statistics published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in their Labour Market Overview. This in turn follows internationally agreed guidelines set out by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

	Definition
Employed	People aged 16 to 64 who did one hour or more of paid work per week and those who had a job that they were temporarily away from (for example, because they were on holiday or off sick).
Sickness absence	People who are employed but off work due to sickness or injury. The period off work can be classed as either short (less than 4 weeks) or long-term (4 weeks or more).
Actively employed	People who are employed and not off work due to sickness or injury.
Unemployed	People aged 16 to 64 without a job, who have been actively seeking work in the past 4 weeks and are available to start work in the next 2 weeks).
Economically inactive	People aged 16 to 64 without a job who have not sought work in the last 4 weeks and/or are not available to start work in the next 2 weeks.
Economically inactive due to short or long-term sickness	People who are economically active and give the main reason as short (less than 4 weeks) or long-term (4 weeks or more) sickness. Most (>95%) of this group will also report a long-term health condition that is work-limiting and be classed as disabled.
Long term health condition	People who report any physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more. This includes people both in and not in work.
Work-limiting long-term health condition	People who report a long-term health condition that affects the amount or type of work than can or could do. This includes people both in and not in work. Most (>90%) of this group will also be classed as disabled.
Disabled	People who report a long-term health condition that reduces their ability to carry out day-to-day activities. Some (~25% or 2.6 million) of this group will report a long-term health condition that is not work-limiting.

Estimates by disability status in this release use the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonised Standard definition, in line with the Equality Act 2010 core definition.

4. Data Sources

The data sources used in this release are as follows.

Labour Force Survey

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a large-scale household survey produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) designed to enable monitoring of labour market issues. The latest quarterly sample (for October to December 2024) consisted of approximately 28,000 responding UK households and 63,000 individuals. Respondents are interviewed for five successive waves at three-monthly intervals with 20% of the sample being replaced every quarter.

As used in ONS’ Labour Market Overview release, the LFS is the main source of statistics on employment and continues to be the sole source of data for unemployment and economic inactivity, providing a range of breakdowns that are only possible from LFS data. The ongoing challenges with response rates and levels mean that ONS publish LFS-based labour market statistics as official statistics in development until further review. This is also in line with the letter from the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), stating that LFS statistics should not be published as accredited official statistics until the OSR has reviewed them.

The Annual Population Survey

The Annual Population Survey (APS) is a continuous household survey, covering the UK. The APS is produced by Office for National Statistics (ONS). It is not a stand-alone survey; it uses data combined from two waves of the main LFS alongside a local sample boost. The APS is a recommended source for employment, unemployment and economic inactivity statistics for smaller groups of the population. APS estimates are also currently being published as official statistics in development until further review due to the ongoing issues with the LFS.

The two-year longitudinal APS has been used to examine movements between labour market states (employment, unemployment and economic inactivity). Everyone in the data is interviewed at two time points, one year apart, so does not capture any movements before or after this annual period, or any short-term moves that may have been reversed between the two snapshot interviews.

Read more information on the LFS and APS.

More information on how some of the issues mentioned above have been mitigated against in this release can be found in the methodology section.

General limitations of survey-based statistics

More generally, estimates in this publication are subject to potential limitations inherent in all surveys, including the following.

Survey design

For example, the LFS uses a rotational sampling design, whereby a household, once initially selected for interview, is retained in the sample for a total of 5 consecutive quarters. The interviews are scheduled to take place exactly 13 weeks apart, so that the fifth interview takes place one year on from the first.

Sampling error

The fact that only a sample of the population has been selected, and a different sample would probably produce a different estimate. This will vary to a greater or lesser extent depending on the level of disaggregation at which results are presented.

Non-response error

Systematic bias due to non-response by households selected for interview. To correct for differential non-response, estimates are weighted.

Survey coverage

The error which arises because some units are either excluded or duplicated on the sampling frame used to identify members of the population of interest

Measurement error

Made up of 4 types:

• interviewer error arising from both conscious and unconscious differences in the way interviewers administer a survey, and from the reactions of respondents to different types of interviewers
• respondent error arising from the inability or unwillingness of a respondent to produce a correct answer
• instrument error which reflects the effect of question wording, response categories and form design on responses, and
• mode error which describes the effect of different methods of administering a questionnaire on the recorded responses

Processing error

This consists of systems error and data handling error. Systems errors are errors in the specification or implementation of systems needed to carry out surveys and process results; system errors on the LFS can creep in when derived variables are specified and/or amended. Data handling errors are errors in the processing of survey data.

Sample size

Although the APS and LFS have a relatively large sample sizes for a household survey, small sample sizes for breakdowns may mean that specific analysis is not robust enough to report.

For further information on the Labour Force Survey, see the following performance and quality monitoring report, including data on sample sizes and response rates: Labour Force Survey performance and quality monitoring report.

Accessibility

The supplementary data tables accompanying this release have been developed using Government Statistical Service (GSS) guidance on releasing statistics in spreadsheets.

5. Methodology

The methods used in this release are consistent with other published sources and where possible use the latest seasonally adjusted data alongside annual or pooled data to increase sample sizes and the reliability of the estimates. The methodology used in the accompanying data tables is as follows.

Tables 1 to 4 follow the same approach using quarterly seasonally adjusted Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates for September to November for the total number of people in employment, unemployed and economically inactive by reason for each year between 2015 and 2024. These headline estimates are published at: A01: Summary of labour market statistics – Office for National Statistics with September to November the latest available quarter at the time the analysis was undertaken.

Further breakdowns for the number of people: off work due to a sickness absence; with a work-limiting long-term health condition and with different types of long-term health condition were then estimated using proportions found in the October to September version of the Annual Population Survey (APS) for example, using October 2023 to September 2024 APS data alongside LFS data for September to November to get an estimate for 2024. The method for identifying these three groups is consistent with the following publications:

• Sickness absence and health in the workplace: understanding employer behaviour and practice – GOV.UK

• A08: Labour market status of disabled people – Office for National Statistics

• The employment of disabled people – GOV.UK

The following categories in Table 4 include:

• Other long-term health conditions (difficulty in seeing or hearing; speech impediment; severe disfigurement, skin conditions, allergies; stomach, liver kidney or digestive problems; Epilepsy and other health problems or disabilities not listed)
• Progressive illness (progressive illness not included elsewhere (for example, cancer, multiple sclerosis, symptomatic HIV, Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophy))
• Musculoskeletal conditions (Problems or disabilities connected with arms, hands, legs, feet, back or neck)
• Mental health conditions (Mental illness, or suffer from phobia, panics or other nervous disorders and depression, bad nerves or anxiety)
• Cardiovascular conditions (Chest or breathing problems, asthma, bronchitis; heart, blood pressure or blood circulation problems and Diabetes)
• Autism and learning difficulties (Severe or specific learning difficulties and Autism (including Autism Spectrum Condition, Asperger syndrome) – this was only included as a response option from 2020 onwards)

Tables 5, 6 and 7 follow the same approach but only for 2024. Table 5 defines health conditions as follows:

• Physical health condition (difficulty in seeing or hearing; severe disfigurement, skin conditions, allergies; stomach, liver kidney or digestive problems; Epilepsy; progressive illness not included elsewhere; problems or disabilities connected with arms, hands, legs, feet, back or neck; chest or breathing problems, asthma, bronchitis; heart, blood pressure or blood circulation problems and Diabetes)
• Mental health condition (Mental illness, or suffer from phobia, panics or other nervous disorders and depression, bad nerves or anxiety; severe or specific learning difficulties and Autism)

Tables 6 and 7 exclude the following Local Authorities due to small sample sizes: Isles of Scilly; City of London; Bexley; Kingston upon Thames; Na h-Eileanan Siar; Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands. Table 8 takes 2022-based population estimates published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and uses trends from 2019 to 2024 to project the number of people who will be employed, unemployed and economically inactive in 2030.

For example, the proportion of people who were economically inactive due to sickness in 2019 was 5.4%. In 2024 this had risen to 7.0% and by 2030 this is projected to be 8.0% (3.6 million). It is important to note that these projections are based on trends seen over an unprecedented period of change. These are not forecasts of what will happen but projections of what could happen if these trends were to continue. Tables 9 and 10 use two-year APS longitudinal data pooled across four years from 2019 to 2023 to estimate the average movement (or not) between employment, unemployment and economic inactivity.

6. About these statistics

These statistics have been compiled using data from the Labour Force and Annual Population surveys which are produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

They follow the same definitions and UK coverage used in the ONS Labour Market Overview.

They have been developed using guidelines set out by the UK Statistics Authority and are badged as Official Statistics.

Office for Statistics Regulation

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. 

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards, email: team.workandhealthanalysis@dwp.gov.uk

Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the Office for Statistics Regulation website.

Statement of compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics

The Code of Practice for Statistics (the Code) is built around three main concepts, or pillars:

• Trustworthiness – is about having confidence in the people and organisations that publish statistics
• Quality – is about using data and methods that produce assured statistics
• Value – is about publishing statistics that support society’s needs for information

The following explains how we have applied the pillars of the Code in a proportionate way.

Trustworthiness

Labour Force and Annual Population Survey data have been produced in line with the Code.

The ongoing challenges with response rates and levels mean that ONS publish Labour Force Survey-based labour market statistics as official statistics in development until further review. This is also in line with the letter from the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), stating that LFS statistics should not be published as accredited official statistics until the OSR has reviewed them.

Quality

Several of the key series have been taken directly from a National Statistics publication (Labour Market Overview), produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The data sources used for new analysis in this release are already used for similar analyses and are considered Official statistics in development by ONS. The specific analyses included here have been quality-assured, including through peer-review, plausibility checks and validation against other published sources.

Value

This release provides a detailed picture of the labour market from 2015 to 2024.

Making this information accessible provides ministers and stakeholders with an overview of ill-health within the labour market, while helping to reduce the administrative burden of answering Parliamentary Questions, Freedom of Information requests and ad hoc queries.

By comparing high-level estimates from different data sources, this release also provides an evidence base drawing on several different sources, enabling a more rounded picture of broad trends.

Related Statistics

The following publications provide additional data, evidence and context on the topics of sickness, health, employment, economic inactivity and disability.

The employment of disabled people – GOV.UK

A01: Summary of labour market statistics – Office for National Statistics

A08: Labour market status of disabled people – Office for National Statistics

Half a million more people are out of the labour force because of long-term sickness – Office for National Statistics

Rising ill-health and economic inactivity because of long-term sickness, UK – Office for National Statistics

Which groups find it hardest to find a job following a period out of work? – Office for National Statistics

Contact information and feedback

Statistician: Mark Burley

For more information on these statistics, contact: team.workandhealthanalysis@dwp.gov.uk

Press enquiries should be directed to the DWP Press Office: 020 3267 5144

Pre-release access

In addition to staff who are responsible for the production and quality assurance of the statistics, up to 24-hour pre-release access is provided to Ministers and other officials.