Staff over 50 ‘vanishing’

HUGE numbers of Britons in their 50s have failed to return to work since the pandemic, prompting alarm within Government.

A minister admitted yesterday that the drop is a ‘big worry area’. Some older employees are thought to have long Covid while others have reassessed their work-life balance. Work and Pensions minister Victoria Prentis told a conference fringe meeting: ‘We need their skills, we need their experience... we desperately need them back.’

She called on bosses to offer more flexibility. According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 386,096 more ‘economically inactive’ adults aged 50 to 64 this spring than before Covid struck.