The problem
The most expensive MSK problem is the one nobody mentioned until it became a six-week absence.
UK workers lost 148.8 million days to sickness and injury last year. That is the number you can see. For every day an employee calls in sick with a musculoskeletal problem, roughly nine more days are lost to the same problem without anyone calling in sick at all. Staff working through back pain. A shoulder complaint that has been there for three months because the NHS waiting list is 18 weeks long.
The IPPR put the cost of that hidden productivity loss at £25 billion in 2023 alone. It does not appear in your absence records.
148.8m
Working days lost to sickness and injury in the UK in 2025
ONS, May 2026
7.1m
Working days lost to work-related MSK disorders in 2024/25
HSE, 2025
£103bn
Total annual cost of workplace sickness, of which £25bn is lost productivity
IPPR, 2024
372,560
People on the NHS MSK waiting list in England, with typical waits of 12 to 18 weeks
NHS England, Aug 2025
Independent peer-reviewed research puts the return on MSK physiotherapy at £4.13 for every £1 invested. Only 30% of UK employers provide any occupational health service. That gap is where minor problems become expensive ones.
New HSE data shows upper limb and neck disorder cases rose between 2023/24 and 2024/25. These are the conditions that come from sedentary, screen-heavy work. By the time someone raises it, they have been managing it alone for months.
