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The Keep Britain Working review is a review led by Sir Charlie Mayfield into economic inactivity due to ill-health and disability. More than one in five working-age adults is out of work due to health problems. Mental ill health is rising sharply in younger members of the workforce. The economic and social burden of this is substantial, as is the burden on UK employers. Since Covid, the number of Britons out of work has skyrocketed.
Sir Charlie Mayfield, former chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, led the review. The first phase of the review was to analyse trends and drivers of rising unemployment and to examine workplace practices when recruiting, training and supporting workers with ill health or disability. The second phase, which has concluded with a formal report, is the recommendations phase. The review aligns with the Government's "Make Work Pay" initiative.
The formal final report into the review identifies three persistent problems:
- A culture of fear prevents constructive conversations.
- The lack of support systems for employers and employees in managing health and disability.
- Structural barriers to work for disabled people.
None of this is news to us here at didlaw.
The review recommends steps to rehumanise the workplace, driving a fundamental shift where health becomes a shared responsibility between employees, employees and health services. Employers will be asked to do more on prevention, rehabilitation and barriers for disabled people. Employees are reminded of their personal responsibility to engage and stay connected to work.
The government is asked to take three steps:
- A three-year vanguard phase working with 60 employers to develop a certified Healthy Working Standard and Workplace Provision (WHP) by 2029.
- To quickly establish a Workplace Health Intelligence Unit (WHIU) as an independent movement HQ to support the vanguard employers. This will deliver measures and data to underpin the WHP.
- Rewire the incentive system, including financial incentives for employers to encourage adoption of the WHP and incentives for employees to stay engaged. It is anticipated that welfare, fit notes, Access to Work and alternative dispute resolution may be reformed.
Following the vanguard phase, the aim would be to expand these ways of working and have them adopted broadly across workplaces in years four to seven of the initiative.
Sir Charlie will co-lead the Vanguard Taskforce with ministers to embed workplace health as a cross-government priority.
Successive governments have tried and failed to achieve these laudable aims. Only time will tell whether any progress can be made. It is good to note the focus on prevention, which is often overlooked. It doesn't take a genius to work out why work can be unhealthy, but the focus of employers often seems to be on rectifying issues after the fact rather than addressing systemic issues which cause people to go off sick or leave their jobs.
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