UK workers with health issues, low pay face flexible work gap: study

LONDON, ENGLAND — The Work Foundation at Lancaster University has urged United Kingdom employers to proactively adopt flexible working practices, as research reveals workers managing health conditions or in low-paid roles are significantly less likely to have access to arrangements critical for retaining them. 

The Work Foundation warns that delaying action until flexible working becomes the default in 2027 risks exacerbating near-record levels of health-related economic inactivity.

“At a time of rising health challenges in the UK, employers should get ahead of upcoming legislative changes by reviewing how they can support all their workers to have access to different forms of flexibility in 2026,” said Ben Harrison, Director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University.

UK workers with health conditions lack flexible work access

Analysis from the Work Foundation and Lancaster University’s Center for Organizational Health & Well-Being exposes a stark inequality in access to workplace flexibility. 

The survey of 3,796 working people found that employees with long-term health conditions are consistently less likely than their healthier peers to have key flexible options. 

They are nine percentage points less likely to have autonomy over daily tasks or flexible hours and twelve points less likely to have location flexibility.

This access gap is compounded by income. The less well-off workers in hospitality, retail, and social care who earn below £25,000 (approximately US$33,000) have much less control than those earning above £60,000 (approximately US$80,000). 

Flexible hours are found in 49% of low-income workers, versus 78% of high-earning workers, and high-earning workers are twice as likely to have access to flexible locations. This creates a double disadvantage for low-paid workers with health issues, risking their continued employment. 

Flexible working key to retaining UK staff with health issues

The research defines flexibility as a broad spectrum of interventions beyond hybrid or remote work, crucial for health management. 

Workers reported that autonomy and control are particularly helpful; 90% of those with long-term conditions found more control over tasks, pace, and order beneficial. Similarly, 88% cited flexible hours as useful, and 87% benefited from location flexibility, highlighting its role as a health support tool.

Consequently, Harrison stated, “Flexible working is not a perk or a ‘nice to have’ – it can make the difference between someone suffering with their health being able to remain in work, or to return.”

The analysis indicates workers facing a health setback without flexibility are four times more likely to leave work, creating a vicious cycle of deteriorating health and economic inactivity that employers can help break.

Now quantified as a systemic disadvantage for the sick and low-paid, the UK’s flexibility gap exposes a critical fault line that, if employers do not address it before legislation, could entrench a two-tier workforce and undermine the economic resilience required for the future of work.