Workforce will face shortages without action, report warns
Author: RSPH 06 October 2025 1 min read
We're calling for greater recognition of the 1.5 million people that make up the wider public health workforce.

The Royal Society for Public Health has today published new research showing that up to 20% of the wider public health workforce could leave their jobs in the next five years if action isn't taken.
It warns that professions like pest control, food safety, and environmental health are facing a range of recruitment and retention challenges. It argues that these could pose significant threats to the health of the public if left addressed.
Who are the wider public health workforce?
The wider public health workforce are all staff engaged in or who want to engage in public health activities, who identify public health as being an important part of their role but are not employed within the core public health workforce.
The actively engaged wider workforce includes up to 1.5 million people; they work in sectors like environmental health, food safety, pest control, health trainers, education staff and emergency services.
The findings of the report
In the report (Untapped Potential), RSPH calls for greater recognition of the impact that the 1.5 million people in the ‘wider public health workforce’ make to the nation’s health, arguing that these staff are critical but often overlooked and could play a part in solving the UK’s many health challenges.
The report also makes the case that the Government’s ambition to shift from ‘hospital to community’, outlined in the recently published 10 Year Health Plan for England, won’t be possible without a wealth of people outside of the NHS working to keep people healthy and well.
The report argues that the NHS Workforce Strategy should be widened to include everyone who has an impact on health outcomes with a particular focus on the wider public health workforce.
Public Health Workforce Week
The publication of the report comes during Public Health Workforce Week (6th-10th October), an annual celebration of the contributions that various professions make to keeping the public healthy and preventing illness.