A thinktank has called for a right-to-return-to-work period of one year for people on disability-related sickness absence or with long-term health conditions.
The Resolution Foundation’s report, ‘Retention Deficit’, makes the proposal among several others aimed at halving the disability employment rate. Currently, 46% of disabled people are unemployed compared with 34% of non-disabled people.
The foundation wants the new right to return to work within a year to be considered before a Green Paper on welfare reform is published later in 2016.
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The report argues that the current welfare system is too focused on benefits and pays too little attention to employment retention.
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It also says that efforts to support people with long-term conditions back to work start too late – after six months on statutory sick pay.
The report’s main proposals are:
- The expansion of the successful Access to Work Programme to maximise its role in supporting people to remain in work, including greater publicity and accessibility for employers.
- The introduction of a right-to-return period of one year from the start of sickness absence, during which employers must keep jobs open, learning from the success of the maternity policy in this country.
- A rebate on statutory sick pay costs for organisations that support their employees to make a successful return to work from long-term sickness absence.
- Early referral to the Work and Health Programme for those in receipt of statutory sick pay, for whom changing jobs is likely to represent the best chance of a successful return to work.
