We’d like to hear from young people in the UK who have been off work due to long-term sickness, and from businesses employing such workers

Over the last four years, there has been a large increase in spending on working-age health-related benefits in the UK, from £36bn in 2019–20 to £48bn in 2023–24, with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expecting this spending to increase further to £63bn in 2028–29.

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, many of these new claimants are younger, with the number of new awards made to under-40s having more than doubled, from 4,500 a month in 2019–20 to 11,500 in 2023–24. Current new claimants are also more likely to claim due to mental health problems, including learning disabilities: the percentage of all new awards primarily for mental health conditions went from 28% to 37% over the same period, an increase from 3,900 claims a month to 12,100 a month.