Get Britain Working report is rooted in tackling ill health

BSC welcomes focus on relationship between work and health but urges government to go further and create a National Wellbeing Strategy led by a Minister for Wellbeing 

In late November, Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, published the Get Britain Working white paper, aimed at achieving an 80% employment rate.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that almost one and a half million people are unemployed, over nine million people are inactive, and a record 2.8 million people are out of work due to long-term sickness. Among young people, one in eight are not in education, employment or training, and nine million adults lack the essential skills they need to get on in work.

The UK is also the only major economy that has seen its employment rate fall over the last five years. 

Backed by £240 million of investment, the white paper aims to target and tackle the root causes of unemployment and inactivity, and better join up health skills and employment support based on the unique needs of local communities.  

This includes tackling ill health as the biggest driver of inactivity, deploying extra NHS staff to cut waiting lists in areas of high inactivity, expanding access to mental health support, as well as a greater focus on prevention to stop people becoming ill.

An independent review will be launched into how employers can be better supported to employ people with disabilities and health conditions, and to keep them in the workplace.

Building on these reforms, the government will bring forward measures to change the health and disability benefits system, aimed at better supporting people to enter and remain in work and to tackle the spiralling benefits bill. A consultation will be published in Spring as part of a commitment to put the views and voices of disabled people at the heart of any policy changes. 

“…people who can work, will be expected to work with clear consequences if they don’t properly engage with the government’s employment support offer.”

Kendall said the employment reforms “will be underlined by the principle that people who can work, will be expected to work with clear consequences if they don’t properly engage with the government’s employment support offer.”

Peter McGettrick, Chairman of the British Safety Council (BSC) said, “We welcome the government’s renewed focus on the link between work and health, as well as an independent review of how employers can be supported to employ people with disabilities and health conditions, and to help them to stay in work. Listening to individuals’ views and needs will be vital here, as well as to employers.

“Given that the health of the workforce and the nation are so inextricably linked, we would like 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.” 

But Professor Len Shackleton, Editorial and Research Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) stated that the white paper “seems to amount to the square root of nothing much at all.”

He added, “It is a disappointing package, unlikely to stimulate the inactive back into work. It is questionable that there would be enough jobs for them in any case, given that the budget and minimum wage increases have sharply raised the cost of employing people, especially the young, while new employment rights from Day One mean that employers face greater risk in taking on those without a sound employment record.”