The Labour government is launching an independent review into how UK employers promote health and inclusive workplaces as part of a package of reforms outlined in the Get Britain Working White Paper.
The long awaited White Paper from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) confirms a Get Britain Working project, outlined in the Autumn Budget, to invest £240m to help improve workplace health and keep people in work.
The reforms include a proposal for an independent review into how employers can be better supported to employ people with disabilities health conditions, and to keep them in the workplace.
It also includes proposals to transform the Jobcentre into a new national jobs and careers service, a new Youth Guarantee so every young person has access to education or training to help them find a job and transforming the Apprenticeship Levy in England into a more flexible Growth and Skills Levy.
This will be supported by an additional £22.6bn to fix the NHS and tackle economic inactivity caused by ill health.
Independent review
Under the plans, government revealed it is launching an independent review into the role of UK employers in promote health and inclusive workplaces.
The review 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 and undertake early intervention for sickness absence and increase returns to work.
It will run until next summer and involve wide-ranging engagement with employers, employees, trade unions, health experts, and disabled people and those with health conditions.
It will also complement the government’s Employment Right’s Bill, which will tackle job insecurity and expand flexible working.
Funds for fixing the NHS and tackling economic inactivity
To help tackle workplace inactivity, government announced in the Budget an additional £22.6bn of resource spending in 2025-26 for the Department of Health and Social Care to support the NHS in England to deliver an additional 40,000 elective appointments a week and make progress towards the commitment that patients should expect to wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment.
Government will also deliver an additional 8,500 new mental health staff and also expand access to Individual Placement and Support (IPS) for severe mental illness, reaching 140,000 more people by 2028/29.
Additionally, the government will take a prevention first approach through an expansion of Talking Therapies, a landmark Tobacco and Vapes Bill and a range of steps to tackle obesity.
Mobilising local work, health and skills support
The White Paper sets out how the government will invest £125m in eight areas across England and Wales, to mobilise local work, health and skills support – so everyone who wants to work can get the joined-up support they need.
This includes funding in three of the trailblazer areas for NHS accelerators to stop people falling out of work completely due to ill health. The three areas will be the North East, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire.
Government said the eight trailblazers will be at the forefront of designing how locally joined-up support will work in practice across England and Wales.
New national jobs and careers service
As part of the reforms Jobcentres across Britain will be overhauled and in England will be brought together with the National Careers Service. This will be kickstarted by £55m of investment, to help people get into work, stay in work, build skills and progress in their career.
The paper further reveals that a radically improved digital offer will be trialled to bring Jobcentres into the 21st century, with the Department for Work and Pensions using the latest technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide up-to date information on jobs, skills and other support and to free up Work Coach time.
Staff at Jobcentres will also be afforded more flexibility to offer a more personalised service to jobseekers – moving away from the ‘tick box’ culture. New coaching academies will also be set up to upskill jobcentre staff to better support people into work.
Backed by £55m, testing and digital design will be carried out into next year to understand how best to bring DWP services online and make them easier to access to deliver tailored support, including CV advice and job adverts.
This builds on work already underway to give work coaches AI tools so they can find the right information for their customers faster.
Youth guarantee
Under the plans every 18-to-21-year old in England will have access to an apprenticeship, quality training and education opportunities or help to find a job under a new Youth Guarantee.
The paper unveils new partnerships with some of Britain’s most iconic cultural and sporting organisations, including the Premier League, Channel 4 and the Royal Shakespeare Company, who will offer work or learning opportunities to inspire and upskill the next generation.
Eight youth trailblazer areas will be set up across the country, including in Liverpool, Tees Valley and the East Midlands with £45m funding to identify those most at risk of falling out of education or employment and match them to opportunities for education, training or work.
Growth and skills levy
To further expand opportunities for young people through the Youth Guarantee, the government will transform the Apprenticeship Levy in England into a more flexible Growth and Skills Levy by investing £40m. This will help to deliver new foundation and shorter apprenticeships in key sectors.
These new opportunities will be the responsibility of young people to take them up. In return for these new opportunities, young people will be expected to engage with training or work that’s on offer so no young person is left behind.
An advisory panel will also be set up to put young people at the heart of decision making. There will also be a disability panel set up to ensure the voices of disabled people are at the core of reforms.
This change will deliver greater flexibility for employers and learners, aligned to the government’s Industrial Strategy, while rebalancing the offer so that more apprenticeships are focused on young people.
Empowering local areas
Up to £15m will be made available to areas across England not getting a trailblazer so they can develop their own Get Britain Working Plan focused on reducing economic inactivity.
Plans will be developed by mayoral authorities where they exist – aligned with their local growth plans – and elsewhere by local authorities.
By giving local areas the power and money to design their own Get Britain Working plans, government committed to delivering real employment opportunities for people who know their communities best.
Up to £15m will be made available to support local areas across England to develop their own plans and to support the trailblazers.
The government will also provide £115m in funding next year to enable local areas across England and Wales to deliver a new supported employment programme called Connect to Work scheme.
Connect to Work will provide voluntary employment offers to people with disabilities, health conditions or complex barriers to work and will support up to 100,000 people a year at full roll out as the first tranche of money from a new Get Britain Working Fund.