As many as one in four young people have considered leaving the workforce in the past year, with mental ill health cited as the most common factor.

The research, by consultancy PwC, has come in the wake of health secretary Wes Streeting’s controversial comments over the weekend that there is an “overdiagnosis” of mental health conditions and mental ill health.

Streeting’s comments, made on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, have been criticised by mental health charities and experts, with Professor Robert Howard, a professor of old age psychiatry at University College London, for one, arguing that “punishing” people by removing access to benefits would not get them back to work.

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PwC, in its report Turning the tide on economic inactivity, surveyed more than 4,000 employees from 300 companies within the UK. Separately, PwC surveyed 311 business leaders, including C-suite executives, HR directors, managing directors and operations directors.

The study suggested 10% of all workers had actively considered leaving for an extended period, or some 4.4 million people. A further 19% of workers of all ages had considered leaving in the past year.

Employees under the age of 35 were more likely than their older counterparts to exit the workforce because of mental health challenges, with employees aged 18-24 at particular risk.

Economic inactivity, which measures people not seeking work or available to work, hit a record 9.4 million last year, or about 22% of working-age adults.

Nearly nine out of ten businesses reported being concerned about the rise in economic inactivity. In addition, 81% of businesses said their productivity had been affected, while 73% said the issue was affecting their financial performance.

Employers saw inactivity as a risk to talent they valued, PWC argued. “Encouragingly, more than half (54%) of employers are reconsidering or have reconsidered the support they have in place to prevent their employees leaving work,” it pointed out.

“While there is desire to prevent work exits, over half of businesses admit being worried about recruiting people who are already inactive, with skills gaps a key concern,” it added.

This highlighted the importance of prevention, PwC emphasised, with the needing to work with employers to give as much attention to reducing the flow of employees into economic inactivity as they are to supporting the people currently inactive into work, it said.

“The level of economic inactivity in the UK presents a major challenge. Since late 2019, the number of people neither working nor looking for work has increased by roughly 12,000 a month net. A new approach is needed,” PwC said.

To that end, the report recommended employers build “a prevention-first approach into workplace design and culture”, including ensuring that health support is better integrated into other aspects of business.

It also urged improved communication, peer group, and other social network support, a greater focus on development and skills, and that employers and government “work together on prevention-first approach for example, through a Good Employer Charter.”

Marco Amitrano, senior partner of PwC UK said: “Given that outflows from work to inactivity currently show no sign of abating, we see a significant opportunity for businesses, government and other organisations, centrally and locally, to work together to address the problem.

“Some 80% of the businesses we spoke to said economic inactivity was impacting productivity and they were already reconsidering the support they provide. The prize for ensuring these efforts are channelled in the most constructive way will be substantial,” he added.

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