Watch again as Rishi Sunak calls for end to ‘sick note culture’ in welfare reform speech

Watch again as Rishi Sunak called for an end to “sick note culture” in his welfare reform speech today (19 April).

The prime minister used his speech to warn against “over-medicalising the everyday challenges and worries of life”.

As Britain emerges from the coronavirus pandemic into a resulting cost of living crisis, with NHS waiting lists hitting record highs, the number of working days lost to sickness or injury has risen to a new record highs.

In a speech on Friday morning, Mr Sunak echod his chancellor Jeremy Hunt in insisting that the focus must shift to what work people might be able to do, amid government concerns some are being unnecessarily written off as sick and “parked on welfare”.