The Department for Work and Pensions has unveiled a suite of reforms aimed at joining up health, skills and employment with its Get Britain Working white paper.
Alongside a range of measures designed to tackle unemployment and economic activity, it will target support at those who have been out of work with long-term physical and mental health conditions and disabilities.
The government will do this by providing 40,000 extra elective appointments per week in NHS Trusts to reduce waiting lists and therefore health-related economic inactivity, it says.
Get Britain Working
According to Get Britain Working, the government will also address “key public health issues that contribute to worklessness”, including expanding talking therapies for mental health, progressive bans on the sale of tobacco and vapes and new steps to tackle obesity.
The government further plans to help people stay in work if they have a health condition, and will launch an independent review into the role of employers in promoting healthy and inclusive workplaces.
The review will look at how employers can increase the recruitment and retention of disabled people and those with health conditions, prevent people from becoming unwell at work and undertake early intervention for sickness absence.
An overhauled jobs and careers service will play a role in supporting employers to provide healthier workplaces and will partner with local health services to help people with health conditions back into work, it says.
‘Getting It Right First Time’ teams will work closely with local Integrated Care Board leaders to address NHS waiting times and provide support needed for people to seek treatment, rehabilitation and return to work. It added that in 20 areas where there are the highest numbers of people off work sick, these teams will provide more intensive support.
The white paper outlines £125 million investment in eight areas across England and Wales, to mobilise local work, health and skills support, including funding in three of the trailblazer areas for “NHS accelerators” to stop people falling out of work completely due to ill health.
According to the Office for National Statistics, more than 9 million people are deemed economically inactive and 2.8 million have long-term sickness. This number has risen significantly since the pandemic, while other developed economies returned to pre-Covid numbers.
Furthermore, 1.7 million suffered from a work-related illness in the past year (2023-24), according to the Health and Safety Executive.
The government argues that the reforms will overhaul the health and disability benefits system so “it better supports people to enter and remain in work and to tackle the spiralling benefits bill”.
The white paper was broadly welcomed by those working in occupational health bodies.
William Roberts, chief executive of the Royal Society for Public Health, said: “It is encouraging to see the government’s new white paper explicitly recognise the role of employers in promoting better health outcomes for their workers – something that aligns with what businesses have told us.
“Everyone employed in the UK should have the right to a healthy workplace. We hope the announced independent review into the role of UK employers in promoting health will recommend an ambitious level of minimum support for all employees. This is especially important as our research shows that 10 million people currently lack access to any workplace health support.”
Peter McGettrick, Chairman of British Safety Council, said: “Even before the pandemic, numbers of people out of work with long-term health conditions was on the rise, and the trend has only continued, so it is good to see this concerted attempt by the government to support people into work and help them to remain there.
“Whether or not it can deliver on its promises remains to be seen, but we need a fresh approach to this serious issue. Worsening health outcomes and rising levels of economic inactivity contribute to low productivity in the UK, making it harder to deliver growth.”
McGettrick urged the government to “go further and create a National Wellbeing Strategy, led by a Minister for Wellbeing, so we can put people’s wellbeing at the heart of all Government policy, especially economic growth”.
Jack Latus, CEO of occupational health provider Latus Group, said that workplace healthcare tended to be focused in larger employers.
“Every employee deserves access to healthcare, but right now, the majority who receive this care are those in larger businesses which have the resources to offer these benefits.
“Healthcare should be a given, not a luxury, and all businesses, regardless of size, need to be able to offer proper health services for their employees, without significant costs to their bottom line.
“The government’s ‘Get Britain Working’ programme has the potential to address these issues but only if it ensures workplace health support is accessible to all businesses and workers – not just the biggest or the most privileged.”
Latus added that there needed to be stronger incentives for employers to invest in workers’ health.
“In countries like France and Germany, businesses play a much bigger role in supporting their employees’ health and this model is worth considering if we seriously want to drive productivity and economic growth.
“No one should have their health compromised by the work they do, or the size of the business they work for, and I would urge policy holders to look at how we, as a country, position workplace health support as a standard, not just a luxury,” he said.
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