Why the Autumn Budget needs a plan to tackle the UK’s accident epidemic

Yesterday, the UK's attention was focused on one thing: the Autumn Budget. 

As Chancellor Rachel Reeves laid out her ambitions to boost growth and create a fairer society, the charity's policy leads digested the fiscal plans set out by the Treasury and responded. 

Steve Cole, Policy Director at RoSPA, said:

"The UK will struggle to see the productivity growth it needs without addressing the country’s rocketing rate of accidents. Fatal accidents have risen by 42% in the last decade and are now the leading cause of death for the working age population, costing the economy £6 billion per annum in lost working days alone, and driving up the benefits bill for hundreds of thousands of people unable to work as a result.

"Any attempts to improve productivity and reduce the benefits bill which do not include a coherent plan for tackling the accident crisis overlooks a drag anchor on the UK economy. 

"While RoSPA welcomes measures to improve public safety such as the commitment to tackle unsafe products sold online and improve the conditions of roads, a National Accident Prevention Strategy is urgently required to coordinate government and public efforts to tackle this challenge and ensure money and resources are used more effectively. This would be an investment that would safeguard not just the health of individuals, but also – by keeping people in work, reducing the benefits bill and lessening the cost to NHS – the health of the nation’s finances."

Find out more about our National Accident Prevention Strategy here.