Less than a third of businesses in the UK provide their employees with posture supporting chairs, despite a plethora of evidence demonstrating the long-term cost of back problems to both employer and employee, new research has shown.

Serviced office provider MWB Business Exchange and YouGov conducted the research asking Britons if their company provided posture supporting chairs and only 27% answered ‘yes’. London  businesses came out as the most supportive, with 31% of employers providing orthopaedic chairs.

However this is still a shockingly low figure, says the company, and the cost to UK businesses is substantial as a result with the latest figures from The Office of National Statistics estimating back pain to cost UK business over £5bn each year. The Midlands and Wales were the worst regions with only 24% of businesses providing orthopaedic chairs.

“It’s worrying that so few companies have yet to provide proper chairs for their employees,” commented John Spencer, chief executive of MWB Exchange.

“Back pain is not only a disabling injury for the employee, but it also costs businesses a substantial amount of money in terms of sick pay, and hiring temporary cover. Buying proper supportive chairs has to make sense for the health and wealth of British businesses.”