Number of Brits who are long-term sick has surged in the last two years

The number of Brits out of work and long-term sick has soared in the last two years - rising by 40,000 every month.

ONS figures show 2.3million “economically inactive” people were recorded as long-term sick in the three months to November 2021.

That is the highest since spring 2005 and up a quarter of a million on the same period two years earlier.