Creaking public services are costing companies in absent staff, employers tell TUC

UK businesses are losing staff working time because of waits for healthcare or caring duties due to underfunded public services, according to a poll of managers before Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first budget.

More than half of 500 UK business leaders polled for the TUC said workers had to take time off in the last year because of problems accessing public services.

Labour party sources have said the government is looking for a combined £40bn in tax rises and spending cuts in the budget on Wednesday. At least part of the tax rises are expected to be spent on increased investment to boost the UK’s meagre productivity and economic growth since the financial crisis of 2008.

Reeves has also said the government will borrow to spend on “national renewal” after years of what Labour describes as underinvestment in the public sector. Her Conservative predecessor, Jeremy Hunt, has argued that extra borrowing would mean higher interest rates and “punish families with mortgages”.

The TUC said the extent of time lost to public service pressures showed that the government should spend more on repairing services. While higher taxes tend to be unpopular with businesses, the union body argued that better public services would help UK companies to grow by allowing workers to be more productive.

The polling, carried out by Opinium, suggested that 35% of business leaders – ranging from small business owners up to management of large businesses – had staff absent while waiting for hospital treatment, and 17% for mental health treatment.

The Institute for Public Policy Research, a thinktank with close links to Labour, has previously argued that poor health is holding back the UK economy. It said last month that the 900,000 people lost to the labour force since the coronavirus pandemic would cost HMRC £5bn in lost revenue this year.

Caring duties were also a drain on time, with nearly a fifth of bosses saying staff took time off to fill in for social care for an adult relative, while 17% said workers took time off because they were unable to find childcare.

Paul Nowak, the TUC’s general secretary, said that poor public services were “having a massive impact on working people, companies, and the economy”.

“A country with great public services is a great place to do business,” he said. “You’ve got a healthy and skilled workforce, travel is fast and reliable, and your workers can access the care services they and their families need.”