Commitments to the occupational health profession or access to OH support were absent from the major political parties’ general election manifestos, which have been published this week.
Recognising the economic need to reduce long-term sickness absence and economic inactivity, the Society of Occupational Medicine recently called on the major political parties to pledge universal access to OH, while the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health has said the next government needs to ramp up OH provision.
Although the parties that have so far published their election manifestos have included commitments to tackling NHS backlogs and improving mental health support, they offer little around their plans to improve workplace health.
General election 2024
SOM CEO Nick Pahl said: “This week’s ONS labour market data, the last release before the election, shows a record 2.83 million people aged 16-64 out of the workforce due to long-term health issues. Any incoming government must prioritise addressing working-age ill health to boost economic growth.
“The Conservative manifesto focused on social security and fit notes reform with no mention of universal support or return to work. The Labour manifesto had four commitments related to employment support: a new jobs and careers service, devolving funding and powers to create local work/health/skills offers, clearing Access to Work backlogs, a youth guarantee; and one on social security.
“SOM and others will engage with any future government on the need for universal access to occupational health to address working age ill health and help drive the economic growth that all political parties want.”
The Business Disability Forum called on the next government to introduce a UK-wide disability, health and employment strategy, including the prioritisation of workplace adjustments, the repositioning of Access to Work as the go-to service for disabled people looking for work, and sick pay reforms to allow for a gradual return to work.
CEO Diane Lightfoot said: “Disability can and does affect everyone, either through personal experience or through the people we know. A joined-up approach to disability inclusion must be at the heart of future policy and decision-making if we want to create an economy and a society that works for everyone and where everyone is valued and included.”
Health pledges in the 2024 election manifestos
Conservative
The Conservative Party’s election manifesto says there is a need to make the welfare and benefits system more sustainable and to support people into work, recognising that the number of people who are economically inactive due to ill health has risen from 2 million to 2.8 million since the pandemic, with a significant increase in mental health conditions among
younger people.
However, its manifesto does not make any commitments around increasing access to occupational health, despite launching a consultation on such proposals last year.
Reiterating several commitments made under the current government, it says a future Conservative government would:
- Tighten up how the benefits system assesses capability for work by September 2025, so that individuals with moderate mental health issues or mobility problems who could potentially work are given tailored support.
- Overhaul the fit note process so that people are not signed off as sick by default. Specialist “work and health professionals” would issue fit notes and the process would be integrated with the WorkWell service.
- Increase access to dental care by encouraging dentists to take on more NHS patients, making 2.5 million more appointments available.
- Publishing a major conditions strategy covering how it will prevent conditions such as cancer, musculoskeletal disorders and mental ill health from occurring and ensure those living with them receive the
best possible care. - Expand women’s health hubs.
- Increase the planned expansion of NHS Talking Therapies by 50%, supporting people with anxiety, stress and depression.
- Boost the capacity of Individual Placement and Support for Severe Mental Illness by 140,000 places.
Green Party
Under a government led by the Green Party of England and Wales, there would be a “fully public, properly funded health and social care system”. Other health pledges in their manifesto include:
-
- A year-on-year reduction in NHS waiting lists.
- Guaranteed access to an NHS dentist.
- Guaranteed rapid access to a GP and same day access in case of urgent need.
- Increased funding for mental health care, putting it on an equal footing with physical health care and enabling people to access evidence-based mental health therapies within 28 days.
Labour
Labour’s manifesto notes that “long waits for treatment of health conditions, particularly mental health, are contributing to the rise in economic inactivity” and said it would “reform employment support so it drives growth and opportunity”.
Its pledges include:
- Working with local areas to create plans to support more disabled people and those with health conditions into work, and devolving funding so local areas can shape a joined-up work, health, and skills offer for local people.
- Tackling the backlog of Access to Work claims and giving disabled people the confidence to start working without the fear of an immediate benefit reassessment.
- Reforming or replacing the Work Capability Assessment.
- Delivering 40,000 more NHS appointments in England per week by incentivising NHS staff to carry out out-of-hours appointments to tackle the backlog.
- Providing 700,000 more urgent dental appointments.
- Cutting waiting times for mental health appointments and encouraging earlier intervention.
Liberal Democrats
The Lib Dems have pledged to remove the earnings threshold for statutory sick pay, align it with the national minimum wage and make payments available from the first day of absence rather than the fourth.
Other health-related policies in the Liberal Democrats’ election manifesto include:
- Giving everyone the right to see a GP within seven days, or within 24 hours if urgent, with 8,000 more GPs to be recruited.
- Guaranteed access to an NHS dentist for everyone needing urgent and emergency care.
- Improving early access to mental health services by establishing mental health hubs for young people in every community and introducing regular mental health check-ups at key points in people’s lives when they are most vulnerable to mental ill-health.
- Improved cancer survival rates and introducing a guarantee for 100% of patients to start treatment for cancer within 62 days from urgent referral.
Plaid Cymru has also published its 2024 election manifesto for people who live in Wales. Health-related pledges include the launch of a “stop cancer strategy” which would ensure no downgrading of urgent cancer referrals. It would also improve the diagnosis of conditions including cardiac conditions, and diabetes and reduce delays to diagnosis to Crohn’s and Colitis, coeliac disease and irritable bowel syndrome.
Parties including the Scottish National Party and Reform UK had not published their 2024 general election manifestos at th time of publication.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
