UK Spend an Estimated £15bn a Year Managing Persistent Pain
For millions of people across the UK, living with chronic pain comes with a cost that goes far beyond the condition itself.
We recently surveyed 2,000 UK adults to understand more about the everyday reality of persistent pain, from the money people spend managing their symptoms to the effect it can have on work, social lives and ordinary routines. What we found was striking.
44% of people we surveyed reported living with pain lasting three months or more, while the average monthly out-of-pocket spend among those who provided a figure was £51.43. Scaled across the estimated UK population living with chronic pain, that amounts to almost £15 billion a year.
Since 2002, Brian Barr Solicitors has specialised in complex personal injury work, including chronic pain injury claims involving conditions such as fibromyalgia, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and Functional Neurological Disorder, as well as following road traffic collisions and workplace accidents.
Our survey reflects something we see regularly in this work: the impact of chronic pain can extend far beyond the injury itself, with people facing ongoing costs for medication, treatment, travel and day-to-day support, alongside changes to work, family life and social plans.
The full 23-page research report, The Hidden Costs of Chronic Pain, explores those findings in detail.
Four in ten people with chronic pain have no formal diagnosis
One of the questions we asked was whether people living with persistent pain had received a formal diagnosis.
40% told us they had not. Around one third had never received one, while a further 6% were still waiting for a diagnosis.
For many people, that means the practical and financial impact of chronic pain starts well before they have a clear explanation for what they are experiencing.
People are also using a wide range of treatments to help manage their symptoms. Almost half of those we surveyed with chronic pain use over-the-counter medication, 39% use prescription treatments, 34% use physical therapies such as massage and 33% use movement-based activities such as yoga or Pilates.
Women are spending more to manage chronic pain
We also found a noticeable difference between men and women.
Almost 48% of women reported chronic pain, compared with 37% of men.
Women who gave us details of their spending were also paying more. Their average monthly cost was £59.30, compared with £42.47 for men, a difference of around £202 over the course of a year.
The diagnosis picture was not straightforward either. While significant numbers of both men and women were living without a diagnosis, 12% of men told us they were currently waiting for one, compared with 7% of women.
Chronic pain is costing people time as well as money
We wanted to understand more than the financial cost, so we also asked how persistent pain affects working life and the things people enjoy doing outside work.
Among workers, 16% said their pain had reduced their day-to-day productivity, while 7% had cut their hours or changed roles and 8% had left employment altogether. Our wider analysis estimates that this could amount to around 36.6 million working days lost across the UK each year.
Away from work, 88% of people living with chronic pain told us it restricts what they can do day to day.
That might mean missing hobbies or sport, finding gardening more difficult or being unable to play with children or grandchildren in the way they would like. On average, people with chronic pain said they cancel 11 social plans every year, while 5% have stopped making plans completely because of unpredictable flare-ups.
Download the Full Report
For those living with persistent pain, these are not separate issues. The cost of treatment, changes at work and the gradual loss of everyday activities can all become part of the same experience.
At Brian Barr Solicitors, we see that first-hand through our work with people living with medically complex conditions including fibromyalgia, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) and Functional Neurological Disorder (FND).
That was one of the reasons we wanted to carry out this research: to look beyond the diagnosis itself and better understand what chronic pain can actually cost the person living with it.
Explore the full survey results, including our breakdown of financial, working and social costs, in The Hidden Costs of Chronic Pain Report
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Steven Akerman
Personal Injury Solicitor & Director, Brian Barr
Alex Cohen
Personal Injury Solicitor & Director, Brian Barr
Philip Cohen
Director, Brian Barr
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Living with chronic or persistent pain can affect almost every aspect of your life, from your ability to work and remain independent to your relationships, finances and emotional wellbeing.
At Brian Barr Solicitors, we specialise in helping people with complex pain conditions pursue the compensation they deserve, with a clear understanding of the long-term impact these conditions can have. If you believe your pain has been caused or worsened by someone else’s negligence, speak to our specialist injury claims team to find out where you stand and how we can help.
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