Employees suffering from long COVID must be supported
An estimated 1.8 million people in the UK are currently experiencing long COVID, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures have shown, leading to calls for employers to do more to support workers with symptoms.
Approximately 2.8% of the UK’s population (excluding those in care homes) are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms that persist for more than four weeks. Of these, 67% – the equivalent of 1.2 million people – say their symptoms adversely affect their ability to undertake day-to-day activities, including one in five (19%, or 346,000 people) who said their day-to-day activities had been limited “a lot".
The survey was conducted over four weeks to the beginning of April and asked 362,771 people to self-report whether or not they were experiencing long Covid. The results were then extrapolated across the UK population.
Idris Arshad, people and inclusion partner at St Christopher's Hospice, said long COVID often exacerbated existing health problems, and made things “very tough for employees, both physically and mentally”. He urged employers to encourage line managers to have face-to-face conversations with individuals experiencing long Covid to understand how to better support them, and suggested firms offer extended sick pay, noting that those “who are suffering genuinely and quite badly with long Covid will have money worries.”
Arshad also emphasised that inviting workers to share their experiences was an important first step. He said:
“It sounds simple, but to address something, you've got to know that your employees are going through it. [People] have been totally turned upside down because of long COVID.”
The ONS data also showed the rate of long COVID was highest among people aged 35 to 49, with women more likely than men to report symptoms, as well as people living in more deprived areas and those with a pre-existing health condition. Individuals working in certain professions, including social care, teaching, education or health care, were also more likely to be affected.
The most common symptom is fatigue, mentioned by 51% of those with long COVID, followed by shortness of breath (33%), loss of sense of smell (26%) and difficulty concentrating (23%).
The EHRC said in a statement:
"There continues to be discussion of the various symptoms related to COVID-19 that are often referred to as ‘long COVID’ and whether they would constitute a disability under the Equality Act. Given that ‘long COVID’ is not among the conditions listed in the Equality Act as ones which are automatically a disability, such as cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis, we cannot say that all cases of ‘long COVID’ will fall under the definition of disability in the Equality Act.
“This does not affect whether ‘long COVID’ might amount to a disability for any particular individual – it will do so if it has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. This will be determined by the employment tribunal or court considering any claim of disability discrimination.
“To support workers affected by ‘long COVID’ and avoid the risk of inadvertent discrimination, we would recommend that employers continue to follow existing guidance when considering reasonable adjustments for disabled people and access to flexible working, based on the circumstances of individual cases.”
Reasonable adjustments apply to all workers, including trainees, apprentices, contract workers and business partners. It is the employer’s duty to ensure that any workers with physical or mental disabilities are able to carry out their work without disadvantage.
One of the most common types of disability discrimination occurs when an employer fails to make reasonable adjustments for a job applicant or worker with disabilities, in which case the worker or job applicant can make a claim of disability discrimination to an employment tribunal.
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