Chancellor vows to fight labour shortages as Sunak urges restraint on executive pay
Jeremy Hunt is preparing to announce measures to help the long-term sick back into jobs on Wednesday, as figures showed that a record 2.5million people are now unable to work because of persistent illness.
The Chancellor is expected to use Thursday’s Autumn Statement to warn that labour shortages are fuelling spiralling inflation by reducing the workforce and pushing up wages.
Data from the Office for National Statistics show that the number of people classed as long-term sick rose by 133,000 in the three months to September, bringing the total to 2,519,000. This is the first time the number has tipped over 2.5m since records began in 1993.
It came as Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, called on top executives to exercise pay restraint and declared that union demands for a 17.6pc pay rise for nurses are unaffordable.