The Government will invest £259m into an expanded WorkWell service, designed to help those with health issues stay in or return to work.
This follows a successful pilot of the scheme, which offers a range of support services, connecting individual to local physiotherapy, counselling and other health service, as well as funding workplace adjustments.
Individuals needing this support can access it through a number of routes, including employer referrals. It will also aim to replace the need for a GP-issued ‘fit notes’, which the government said should ease pressure on primary NHS services.
However the WorkWell scheme can also be accessed via GPs, job centres and through self-referral.
To date over 25,000 people have been supported by this WorkWell service during the pilot phase, with 48 per cent reporting mental illness as their main barrier to employment, and 59 per cent out of work at their first appointment.
WorkWell forms part of the government’s wider Pathways to Work offer created to help disabled people and those with health conditions move from welfare into work. It will be offered solely in England.
The government said this rollout is expected to ease pressure on GPs, pointing out that doctors currently issue more than 11m ‘fit notes’ a year which effectively simply state people are ‘not fit for work’. It is hoped this new route to support will free up GP time.
The expansion of these scheme has been welcomed by employers and health insurers and advisers.
Broadstone head of health & protection Brett Hill says: “The expansion of WorkWell is an important step in tackling record levels of economic inactivity driven by long-term ill health, particularly mental health.
“By providing tailored, health-led support for people who are currently out of work, it has real potential to help more people re-enter employment who might otherwise remain excluded from the labour market.
“Workwell should also nicely complement the Keep Britain Working Review, which sets out how employers can keep people healthy and reduce sickness absence once they are in work.
“Together, and if the right financial incentives and private sector involvement are put in place, they could lead towards a more joined-up, end-to-end strategy that ‘tops and tails’ the labour market – supporting those currently out of work to return, while helping those already employed stay healthy and productive.”
Announcing the expansion of the scheme Pat McFadden, secretary of state for work and pensions says: “Too often, people with health conditions are signed off sick without the support they need to stay in or return to work—and that doesn’t help anyone.
“WorkWell changes that by giving people the help they need. Our pilot provided support to 25,000 people to remain in their jobs and helped others get back to work.Now we’re rolling this out nationwide—because supporting people to stay healthy and employed benefits individuals, businesses, and our economy.”
