The government has said it intends to pilot a new rehabilitation service, including the use of occupational health professionals, to help more people on long-term sick leave to get back into work.
The WorkWell Vanguard service will initially be tested in 15 areas, and will combine work coaches, physiotherapy and mental health treatment, according to a briefing by work and pensions secretary Mel Stride and health secretary Victoria Atkins to The Times newspaper.
After the trials, the government has said it hopes to expand the scheme nationally, although key elements will not take effect until 2025.
A prospectus for tenders for the new service for long-term sick leave was published at the end of November, with £57m being made available through a grants competition to run them.
The services, the document highlighted, will “provide evidence-based, low intensity work and health assessments that support individuals with their low-level occupational health needs and to overcome barriers to work”.
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The initial focus will be on musculoskeletal health and mental health. However, ministers also stated that the hope is a small number of these sites will in time support work to test reforms to the fit note process, something that will be consulted on during this year.
The services will be delivered by multidisciplinary teams, including occupational health clinicians, occupational therapists, vocational rehabilitation professionals, physiotherapists, or talking therapists, the government has said. Employers could be among those directly able to refer individuals to WorkWell services.
Rehabilitation could come in the form of interventions such as life coaches, running clubs, community activities and NHS “social prescribing”, among other initiatives.
Stride and Atkins told The Times: “We know the longer someone spends out of work, the harder it becomes for them to find a job. We also know that one in five of those claiming the highest level of health benefits want to work and feel they could do so with the right support.”
The shadow employment minister, Alison McGovern, also told the Times the scheme was “all too little and it’s far too late”.
The move has come as figures from the Office for National Statistics highlighted that more than half a million young people in the UK now say they are out of work because of long-term illness, a 44% increase in just four years.
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More than 560,000 people aged between 16 and 34 were economically inactive in the first three months of 2023 because of long-term sickness.
