Two-thirds of long Covid experience unfair treatment at work

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that, as of 1 August 2021, 970,000 people in the UK were experiencing self-reported Long Covid. The most recent data, from January, shows that this has increased to 2 million people.

The report, from the TUC and the charity Long Covid Support, analysed responses from over 3,000 sufferers which asked them about experiences ranging from being disbelieved about their symptoms or threatened with disciplinary action to being harassed.

One in seven respondents (14%) said they had lost their job because of reasons connected to long Covid.

Two thirds of respondents (66%) said they had experienced one or more types of unfair treatment at work. This includes one in six (16%) who had been subject to bullying and/or harassment at work, one in 13 (8%) told us they had been threatened with disciplinary action and almost a quarter of respondents (23%) said their employer has questioned whether they have long Covid and/or the impact of their symptoms.

Almost a quarter of the respondents to the survey (23%) said their employer had questioned whether they had long Covid, or the impact of their symptoms.

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Half of respondents (49%) said they had reason to believe they had contracted Covid-19 at work highlighting that many people are being continually failed by their employer, from a lack of health and safety measures, including ventilation, to poor treatment in response to long Covid.

Overall, 60% of respondents said they had been experiencing symptoms for over a year. Six in 10 respondents (63%) said that their ability to carry out normal day to day activities had been limited substantially and a further third (33%) reported that their ability to carry out day to day activities had been limited to some extent. 

Meanwhile, half of respondents (50%) said they had to use their savings to financially support themselves, one in sixteen (six per cent) told us they had taken out a private loan or debt service and one in sixteen (six per cent) were using food banks. 

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The report urges the government to take action or risk people losing their livelihoods as many are forced out of the labour market when they would like to be working and others who cannot work being left with little support.

It recommends that the government designate long Covid as a disability for the purposes of the 2010 Equality Act, to make sure that clear sufferers are entitled to “reasonable adjustments” at work.

Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, said: “Workers with long Covid have been badly let down. Many of these are the key workers who carried us through the pandemic – yet now some are being forced out of their jobs.

“Ministers must make sure all workers with long Covid have the legal right to reasonable adjustments at work so they can stay in their jobs.”

The report argues that adjustments like flexible working, disability leave and a phased return to the workplace could me made.

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Lesley Macniven, a founding member of Long Covid Support said: “Long Covid is devastating the health of a significant percentage of our workforce and urgently requires a more strategic response.

“Those still fighting to stay in work face discrimination and a lack of understanding. Without action around retention of these workers, not least in sectors facing skills shortages, the numbers, and costs, will continue to rise as they too reluctantly exit the workforce.”