Hunt wants functioning, productive, skilled people back, as it is affecting UK PLC and politicians really should be focusing on the real reasons that those in demand choose not to be wage slaves, when they can support themselves happily outside of the workplace! Many employers don't want to pay them what their worth and, in real terms, wages are well down on what they should be. Employees are too often referred to as head count and thought of that way. Employers talk about retiring like most of us have a choice and we don't, but if we did, what would you do? I've seen one company replace each retiree with an apprentice and then moan they can't do the job, as there is no one to train them, so you get the picture of what is driving some employers, which is profit! Me, if I could, I'd be off and doing where I felt valued and my full NI history means I pay in for something I've already qualified fully for and can't claim for 6 years, having worked in an era where private pensions didn't always get offered, companies went pop and took your money with them and then not having money to pay for the far future, when I just had enought to pay for the day!! It is only Covid that has really pushed the fast forward button on more flexible ways of working. Being a Carer is all consuming and the lack of any respite or help is frankly a national disgrace, if they don't do this job, then who does and is JH saying this is not a real job then? We've got disabled individuals stuck in their homes, often with chronic accessibility issues and what does JH think they can do and what employers would he suggest take them on, or are their roles in parliament and the civil service being made ready for them? Our parliamentarians, all of them, allowed this situation to grow like topsy and have allowed the world of work to become so squeeky tight on headcount that there is no one to supervise in many instances, no one to train and no time for someone who can't hit the ground running. Many of those retired support our communities as volunteer for all the roles that are no longer funded, mind their grandchildren, and are so vital to our society, is he suggesting they go work in Lidl and then who picks up the knock on of their actions? I work in the employability sector and a real issue is whether that individual can do anything that is valued anymore? Community volunteering requires funding and support and everyone wants this, but no one wants to fund the infrastructure. Perhaps National Service would be an answer and would certainly mandate compulsory education, work on fitness, language skills and even give those involved a skill that society would value; other countries they do this, so why not us? I agree that many would rather not work and there is a large group that should, but the way we house people (in rural areas totally cut off from where there is the demand for an unskilled workforce), where rents run at 60% of average earnings, then factor in the bills and you would struggle to stay above zero, means many are disincentivised,especially when council tax and lack of access to things like free schools meals and prescriptions (to name but a few) disappear too. We need to properly invest in schools from day one, get parents back into education and make their benefits mandatory on attendance at programmes that they might not want, but really would help them in so many ways, alongside how this would translate to future generations. We should definitely make zero hour contracts illegal (they are not the same as bank, or temp) and make childcare part of schooling from age 3, so no excuse for parents not to work. Other issues, I have people who've been waiting a year for a scan for a suspected stroke and now have lost the use of their legs, dental care causing blood infections as 3 year local waiting list for NHS dentistry, so a lack of care for a tooth, is now a health issue. Sports and leisure decimated and yet we need to keep all of our population healthy and with access to areas to help them keep well, as the well can work and not make leisure and sport something that only those with money can do. Don't get me started on the lack of resilience, mental health.... Hybrid working will help but that's for those with skills that match the work, too many have little or no value to employers and we have failed to ensure we train for tomorrow and instead we've relied on importing for today! Sorry for the rant and brain dump and sometimes repeating myself, but I sit round tables where practitioners know what is needed and are never listened to; this is such a complex societal issue. I get frustrated that for want of some common sense, a united sense of contributing to our society to make it better and approaching those who could, but don't work, with realistic practical interventions and mandatory participation in 'real' valuable training, that what we have is simply the tip of the economically inactive iceberg. Oh, by the way, Job Coach don't coach, they ensure that the person in front of them complies, and DWP funded programmes are really not working effectively either, but that's another story for another day and like so much, you get a good 'un and then you get one that ticks the boxes.