Department of Health and Social Care
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£2.1 BILLION UP IN SMOKE FOR UK BUSINESS EVERY YEAR
NHS offers free support for businesses to help employees stop smoking
Smokers are costing employers up to £2.1 billion every year according to the first ever study of the detailed cost of smoking to UK businesses published today.
The report, by the London School of Economics (LSE) on behalf of NHS Smokefree, has estimated that the staggering costs are dominated by illness absences for smokers (calculated at 1.77 excess sickness days per smoker per year, or £1.1 billion) and by smokers taking cigarette breaks (£1 billion a year).
At a time when businesses are looking more than ever at ways to reduce costs and increase productivity, the findings provide a compelling case for employers to help workers quit smoking. Employers can ask for free support that is available from the NHS in the workplace, such as one-to-one or group support sessions with trained stop smoking advisers.
Drew Collins from NHS Stop Smoking Services said:
“Smoking is bad for your health and bad for business. If employers want to save money and look after their workers’ health, they should get in touch with their local NHS Stop Smoking Service. We can come into workplaces and help people to stop smoking at no extra cost.”
The London School of Economics has created a new formula that shows employers the genuine cost they bear for smoking employees.*
Professor Alistair McGuire, Head of Social Policy at LSE and lead academic for the report, said:
“The formula reveals just how much of businesses’ bottom line is going up in smoke every year and how small changes, with a little help from the NHS, could result in major savings.
“Taking the formula and applying it nationally shows the current total estimate of employer direct costs is £2.1 billion per annum. This doesn’t even include the indirect costs to company image from employees smoking outside the premises, or to the dissatisfaction felt by non-smoking workers who perceive smoking colleagues to be shirking as they take smoke-breaks.”
Dr Linda Bauld from the University of Bath and UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies said:
“Research has shown that offering stop smoking support in the workplace is an effective way to help smokers to quit. What works best is a combination of support from a trained adviser, either in groups or one to one, and access to stop smoking medication. This is exactly what NHS Stop Smoking Services can offer, and employers have an important role to play in helping their staff succeed at stopping smoking."
Trevor Carmichael, Operations Manager at Parcelforce in Rotherham, said:
“We have been running a course with a trained NHS stop smoking adviser for three months. The adviser has been very flexible and fitted in with the needs of our business in terms of running support sessions during times that fit with our shift patterns - sometimes at 6.30 am.
“The support we have received has been excellent and there is definitely a positive feeling in the depot, amongst both smoking and non-smoking colleagues.”
For more information employers can call 0800 731 6418. Trained local NHS stop smoking advisers can offer free group or one-to-one stop smoking sessions within a company workplace, or at convenient sites in the local community. Advisers can also attend company staff health events, or run introductory sessions to assess staff interest if that better suits work patterns. They can also train a company’s HR or occupational health team to deliver stop smoking advice.
Notes to Editors
· Professor McGuire and Trevor Carmichael are available for interview on 5th June 2009.
· A filming opportunity of a stop smoking group session at the Parcelforce depot in Rotherham is also available on 5th June 2009.
· The LSE report, An Economic Analysis of the Cost of Employee Smoking borne by Employers is available from Pasca Lane, Emily Walch and Richard Appleton at Blue Rubicon using the following contact details: tobacco@bluerubicon.com , 0207 260 2700. The report will be published online at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/News/index.htm_ on Friday the 5th of June.
· *LSE has created a new formula that shows employers the genuine cost they bear for smoking employees:
CSE = A + B + F
(Where CSE = cost of smoking borne by employers; A = cost of productivity losses due to smoking related illness absences; B = cost of productivity losses due to smoking breaks; and F = cost of commercial fire damage attributable to smoking.)
· The direct costs caused by smoking related absences and smoking breaks borne by different sectors are as follows:
o Elementary administration and service occupations - £115.4m
o Sales occupations and customer service operations - £98.8m
o Elementary trades, plant and storage - £103.2m
o Process, plant and machine operatives - £105m
o Transport and mobile machine drivers/operatives - £67.7m
o Skilled, construction and building trade - £53.8m
· The direct costs caused by smoking related absences and smoking breaks borne by employers in different regions are as follows:
1. London - £326.7m
2. South East - £274.2m
3. North West - £225.5m
4. West Midlands - £173.3m
5. East - £166.4m
6. South West - £161.4m
7. Yorkshire - £160.1m
8. East Midlands - £121.6m
9. North East - £70.3m
· NHS Smokefree: Local NHS Stop Smoking Services - support for employers
There are 150 local NHS Stop Smoking Services throughout the country providing free stop smoking support. Trained advisers can offer group or one-to-one stop smoking sessions within a company workplace, or at convenient sites in the local community. Advisers can also attend company staff health events, or run introductory sessions to assess staff interest if that better suits business work patterns. They can also train a company’s HR or occupational health team to deliver stop smoking advice.
· NHS Smokefree: Facts on quitting
o Three-quarters of smokers (74%) say they would like to quit if they could. Key statistics include:
o 58% of smokers say that they intend to quit in the next 12 months.
o 86% of smokers cite at least one health reason for why they want to quit.
o 60% of current smokers have made a series attempt to quit in the past five years
o 53% of smokers have sought some kind of help or advice for quitting smoking.
o 87% of people who have attempted to stop smoking in the last year would like to stop smoking
o Heavy smokers are more likely to have tried to stop smoking (87%)
o 55 percent of smokers said that someone had asked them to stop smoking this tended to be a partner (22%), son or daughter (17%) or a parent (16%)
o Women were more likely than men to say that their children were asking them to quit (22% and 13% respectively)
· Telephone numbers for NHS Stop Smoking Support
o NHS Smoking Helpline (0800 169 0 169)
o NHS Pregnancy Smoking Helpline (0800 169 9 169)
o NHS Asian Tobacco Helpline
- § Urdu - 0800 169 0 881
- § Punjabi - 0800 169 0 882
- § Hindi - 0800 169 0 883
- § Gujarati - 0800 169 0 884
- § Bengali - 0800 169 0 885
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH PRESS OFFICE: 020 72105221
