EMPLOYEES signed off sick are costing the economy £400million a week — with claims of depression, anxiety and stress soaring.
A huge 34million working days were lost due to job-related ill health last year — a sharp increase on 22million in 2010.
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The forfeited productivity is estimated to have wiped £21.6billion off economic output, according to the Trade Union Congress.
The annual sickness benefits bill is set to spiral to £100billion by 2030 with four million people taking handouts.
Cabinet Minister Pat McFadden warned yesterday: “We can’t allow that to happen.”
It comes as Labour prepares to launch a crackdown to get jobless Brits back to work, with 2.8million on long-term sickness benefits.
Welfare Secretary Liz Kendall will unveil plans including changes to the Work Capability Assessment to force more people to find jobs.
The estimated savings will only be revealed later this month once the reforms have been sent to the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Mr McFadden added: “We don’t believe it is good that if somebody could work with a bit of support that they’re left to live a life on benefits.”
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “People are now being able to be signed off because they’ve got anxiety and they are not having to even look for a job.
“I think it’s gone far too far and it is costing us billions and billions of pounds.”
A government source told The Sun: “People saying Labour will duck the fight on welfare are wrong — we will tackle this head on.”
