UK disability charity Astriid is calling on the government to overhaul employment support for people living with long-term health conditions, warning that millions are being shut out of work by systems that fail to recognise energy-limiting illness.
In a new report published this week, Astriid estimates that more than 2.5 million people in the UK are excluded from employment because of long-term health conditions that severely restrict their energy and stamina. The charity says that current back-to-work schemes and mainstream employment programmes are not designed with these realities in mind and can end up pushing people further away from work rather than closer to it.
The report focuses on people living with energy-limiting conditions such as Long Covid, ME/CFS, fibromyalgia and other fluctuating or multi-system illnesses. Many experience severe fatigue, pain and cognitive difficulties that make traditional full-time, fixed-hours work impossible. Astriid argues that existing support is often built around assumptions that people can steadily increase their hours and “push through” tiredness. For people with energy-limiting conditions, the charity says this approach is unsafe and can lead to serious relapses, job loss and long-term economic inactivity.
Instead, Astriid is calling for specialist employment support services that are commissioned and designed specifically around fluctuating health, limited energy and the need for flexible, low-hour or remote roles. The charity describes people with long-term conditions as a “hidden talent pool”: many have strong skills, qualifications and experience, but are unable to access or sustain work because job design, recruitment processes and workplace expectations do not take energy limitation into account.
The report highlights that a significant proportion of people with long-term conditions want to work, or return to work, but can only do so if roles are genuinely flexible. For many, that means shorter or highly adaptable working hours, the option to work from home, predictable rest periods built into the week and clear understanding from employers that their capacity may fluctuate over time. Without these conditions, Astriid warns, people are often forced to choose between their health and their job, leading to preventable job losses and a growing number of people leaving the labour market altogether.
In response to its findings, Astriid is urging the government to commission dedicated employment support for people with energy-limiting conditions and to ensure that people with lived experience are involved in the design and delivery of those services. It is also calling for closer collaboration with employers to trial and expand new models of flexible, low-hour and remote roles that are specifically tailored to long-term health conditions.
Astriid itself is led and staffed largely by people with long-term health conditions and provides tailored employment support to candidates, alongside advice and training for employers who want to open up opportunities to this underused talent pool. The charity argues that, with long-term sickness now a major driver of economic inactivity in the UK, better employment support for people with energy-limiting conditions is not only a question of fairness, but also a workforce and productivity issue that the country can no longer afford to ignore.