New workplace review hones in on health and wellbeing

Review to improve health of workplaces part of government’s £240m ‘back-to-work’ White Paper.

A review examining what employers can do to improve the health and wellbeing of people in work, and the recruitment of disabled people and those with health conditions, is part of a package proposals aimed at getting people into quality jobs.

The White Paper, Get Britain Working, is backed by £240m of investment, and was announced this week by Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall.

The review into healthy and inclusive workplaces will consider what more can be done to enable employers to increase the recruitment and retention of disabled people and those with a health condition, prevent people becoming unwell at work and promote good, healthy workplaces, and undertake early intervention for sickness absence and increase returns to work.

The review will involve engagement with employers, employees, trade unions, health experts, disabled people and those with health conditions, and will complement the government’s labour market reform plans, Make Work Pay, which will tackle job insecurity and expand flexible working.

Change to health and disability benefits

To support these aims, the government believes there is a strong case to change the system of health and disability benefits so that it better enables people to enter and remain in work, and to respond to the complex and fluctuating nature of the health conditions many people live with today.

The proposals come as over 9 million people are inactive and a record 2.8 million people are out of work due to long-term sickness. Young people have also been left behind, with one in eight young people not in education, employment or training, and 9 million adults lack the essential skills they need for work.

According to government figures, the UK is also the only major economy that has seen its employment rate fall over the last five years. This has been largely driven by a significant rise in the number of people out of work due to long-term ill health, with an outdated employment support system which, says the government, is “ill equipped” to respond to this growing challenge.

Source – shponline.co.uk