Squatting public services costs companies absent staff, employers tell TUC

British businesses are losing staff time due to waiting for healthcare or caring responsibilities due to underfunded public services, a poll of managers ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first budget has found.

More than half of the 500 British business leaders surveyed for the TUC said employees had to take time off in the past year due to problems accessing public services.

Labor party sources have said the government is looking to make a combined £40 billion in tax rises and budget cuts on Wednesday. At least some of the tax increases are expected to go towards higher investment to boost the UK’s meager productivity and economic growth since the 2008 financial crisis.

Reeves has also said the government will borrow to spend on “national renewal” after years of what Labor 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 amount of time lost due to public service pressures showed the government should spend more on fixing services. While higher taxes are often unpopular with businesses, the trade union body argued that better public services would help British businesses grow by allowing workers to be more productive.

The poll, conducted by Opinium, found that 35% of business leaders – ranging from small business owners to corporate management – ​​had staff absent while waiting for hospital treatment, and 17% for mental health treatment .

The Institute for Public Policy Research, a think tank with close ties to Labour, has previously argued that poor health is holding back the British economy. Last month it was said that the 900,000 people lost to the workforce since the coronavirus pandemic would cost HMRC £5 billion in lost revenue this year.

Caring responsibilities were also time-consuming, with almost a fifth of bosses saying staff took time off to manage social care for an adult relative, while 17% said employees took time off because they couldn’t find childcare.

Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, said poor public services were having “a huge impact on working people, businesses and the economy”.

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