Cost of Workplace Injuries to UK Businesses 2026

The Cost of Workplace Harm

Workplace harm creates costs for workers, employers and public services. HSE’s national estimate includes lost income, production and health-related costs as well as a monetary valuation of harm to people.

The main estimate in this guide is for Great Britain, not the whole UK. Its 2023/24 reference year also differs from the 2024/25 workforce absence figures and current regulatory charges.

Reviewed 15 October 2026. HSE workforce estimates cover Great Britain in 2024/25; cost estimates use the 2023/24 reference year. Population surveys and other periods are labelled separately.

Key facts & figures (overview)

£22.9 billion estimated cost of workplace injuries and new work-related ill health in Great Britain, 2023/24 reference year.
£16.4 billion from ill health, around 72% of the total.
£6.5 billion from workplace injuries, around 28%.
£13.4 billion borne by individuals, including the valuation of harm to health.
£4.3 billion borne by employers.
£5.2 billion borne by government.
40.1 million days lost to work-related illness and non-fatal injury in Great Britain, 2024/25.
35.7 million days of that total were due to ill health; 4.4 million were due to injury.
£188 per hour is HSE’s Fee for Intervention rate from 1 April 2026, where the scheme applies.
Case-specific costs are a better planning basis than a universal uninsured-loss or return-on-investment multiplier.

The £22.9 billion total: what it covers

The £22.9 billion estimate concerns workplace injuries and new ill-health cases associated with current working conditions. The 2023/24 reference year uses an annual average of cases over 2022/23–2024/25.

Financial costs include:

Lost earnings and output.
Health care, administration and related expenditure.
Sick pay, insurance and costs of reorganising work.

Human costs include:

A valuation of pain and reduced quality of life.
The loss of life from fatal workplace injuries.

The model excludes pre-existing ill-health cases and long-latency diseases such as occupational cancer. The headline is a societal estimate, not a cash expense incurred solely by businesses.

Who bears the cost?

HSE divides the 2023/24 total between three groups. Shares are rounded.

Who pays	Cost	Share of total
Individuals	£13.4 billion	58%
Government	£5.2 billion	23%
Employers	£4.3 billion	19%

Individuals: £13.4 billion (58% of total)

This includes financial losses and the model’s valuation of harm to health.

Government: £5.2 billion (23% of total)

Public costs include health care, benefits and changes to tax receipts.

Employers: £4.3 billion (19% of total)

Employer costs include sick pay and the effects of absence on staffing and production. These three amounts describe the combined injury and new ill-health total.

The cost of ill health vs. the cost of injury

Ill health: £16.4 billion, or 72% of the 2023/24 total.
Injury: £6.5 billion, or 28%.

HSE’s model assigns a higher average cost to ill-health cases, which typically involve more time off. A business still needs to assess its own hazards; a national cost split is not a prescription for allocating every safety budget.

Direct costs to employers

Sick pay: in 2026/27, eligible employees receive Statutory Sick Pay at £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower, for up to 28 weeks. Contractual schemes may provide more.
Staffing: cover, overtime, recruitment and training may be needed during an absence.
Insurance and claims: liabilities and cover depend on the incident and policy. Most employers must hold employers’ liability insurance, subject to exemptions.
Administration: investigation, records and any required reporting take staff time. Not every injury is reportable under RIDDOR.
Fee for Intervention: HSE charges £188 an hour from 1 April 2026 where a material breach falls within the scheme. The bill depends on work undertaken, including relevant office time.

Indirect and hidden costs

An employer may also face disruption beyond immediate payments. These costs vary by incident and business.

Interrupted production or service delivery.
Management time and changes to work schedules.
Damaged equipment or materials.
Effects on colleagues and the support they need.
Contractual or reputational consequences, where relevant.

Record actual consequences rather than assuming every incident causes each type of loss.

The iceberg principle: uninsured costs

The iceberg is a useful illustration of less visible costs, but it is not a fixed accounting ratio. Insurance does not cover every consequence of workplace harm.

Visible costs may include sick pay, policy excesses or repair bills.
Less visible costs can include staff time and interrupted work.

There is no universal ten-to-one multiplier for a business to apply. Check policy coverage, avoid double-counting and estimate each material cost on its own evidence.

Working days lost: the productivity burden

HSE’s Labour Force Survey estimates for Great Britain in 2024/25 distinguish illness from non-fatal injury:

40.1 million working days lost overall.
35.7 million due to work-related ill health.
4.4 million due to non-fatal injury.
22.1 million due to stress, depression or anxiety.
7.1 million due to musculoskeletal disorders.

These are survey estimates, not a count of certified absences. They should not be multiplied by a national daily wage and added to the HSE cost total, which already includes relevant production and income effects.

Cost by type of condition

The current headline cost estimate separates injuries from new ill health, but it should not be divided between particular conditions using their share of cases or days lost.

Stress, depression and anxiety and MSDs account for much of work-related absence. Their case mix and severity differ.
An all-cause back-pain or mental-health estimate is not directly comparable with HSE’s work-related model.
For local planning, separate absence, treatment support and operational disruption without assuming a fixed national cost per condition.

Regulatory and legal costs

Regulatory costs depend on the breach and action taken. HSE’s current Fee for Intervention rate is £188 an hour from 1 April 2026. Advice alone does not automatically trigger a charge; the material-breach rules matter.

Health and safety offences can lead to court penalties under the applicable law; the outcome depends on the particular case.
Fines, prosecution costs and remedial work are separate items.
A selected fine or an average from a different period cannot predict what an individual business would pay.
Civil claims have their own legal tests and time limits, with exceptions; take case-specific advice rather than relying on a universal deadline or compensation ceiling.

The cost of non-compliance vs. the cost of prevention

A meaningful comparison starts with the risks in the business and the controls required. Comparing an average annual compliance budget with the fine from a different sample does not establish a saving.

Identify the hazardous task or exposure.
Assess practicable controls and their implementation and maintenance costs.
Consider the likelihood and consequences of harm.
Meet legal duties even where a financial return cannot be calculated.
Review whether controls work in practice.

Long-term trends: are costs rising?

HSE reports that the 2023/24 cost estimate was broadly unchanged from 2022/23 in real terms. Costs are at a higher level than before the pandemic.

Use inflation-adjusted values for comparisons over time.
The cost model uses a rolling average, so its reference year is not the same as a single-year case count.
Survey uncertainty and changes in the underlying data limit conclusions from small movements.
The latest estimate does not establish a forecast of future costs.

What these figures leave out

Long-latency conditions such as occupational cancer are outside the headline model.
Pre-existing ill-health cases are excluded; the model focuses on new cases and workplace injuries.
Northern Ireland is not part of the Great Britain estimate.
The human-cost component is a monetary valuation, not a full description of personal and family impacts.

These boundaries should accompany the headline figure wherever it is used.

Reducing workplace injury costs: the business case

A business can evaluate prevention using its own risks, incident history and operational data. Benefits are possible, but no single financial return applies to every intervention.

Record the costs and practical effects of incidents and near misses.
Prioritise controls that remove or reduce exposure.
Include workers in decisions about equipment and work design.
Check that training supports safe systems and supervision.
Track performance after changes, allowing for changes in staffing and workload.
Avoid presenting assumed savings as guaranteed returns.

Written by workplace safety experts

This guide was produced by the team at Manual Handling Training, a UK provider of RoSPA-approved and CPD-accredited online health and safety training. Manual handling is among the most significant contributors to the UK’s workplace injury cost burden — responsible for approximately £3.5 billion in employer costs per year. We publish resources like this one because helping employers understand the true financial cost of workplace harm is one of the most effective ways of making the business case for the training and risk management that prevents it.

Sources & references

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Mark McShane

Health & Safety Training Specialist, Online CPD Academy

Mark writes about workplace health & safety, manual handling and accredited online training for Manual Handling Training, part of Online CPD Academy.