Sussex town described as 'sickness capital' of UK by national newspaper

The Telegraph has published an in-depth report about how Hastings has the highest proportion of people out of the workforce because of sickness.

Entitled ‘The sickly seaside town that turned its back on work’, the article read: “14.7 per cent of people were economically inactive because of long-term illness last year.

“The seaside town now has the highest proportion of people out of the workforce because of sickness. Yet Hastings is just a microcosm of the worklessness crisis across Britain.

“Nationally, the number of people neither in work nor looking for a job has ballooned since lockdown.”

The newspaper reported that, in the three months to January, 9.3 million people were ‘economically inactive’, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

"This represents a decade-high and is up 819,000 on pre-Covid levels,” the report noted.

"Sickness was the biggest driver, with 2.7 million people inactive due to long-term illness.

“Hastings is arguably the sickness capital of Britain. Some 5,502 people here are claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for an illness, disability or mental health condition. That’s roughly one in ten people in the town, and up 44pc since January 2020.”

The reporters stated that under-40s have seen the fastest decline in health since the pandemic, with mental health conditions the most commonly cited ailment.

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