Action for healthier working lives
Final report of the Commission for Healthier Working Lives
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Key points
- 8.2 million working-age people report having a long-term health condition that limits their ability to work. While employment rates for this group have improved in recent decades, only half are in work today. Each year, over 300,000 people leave their jobs and end up out of the workforce entirely with work-limiting health conditions.
- This has resulted in substantial costs for individuals, employers and the wider economy, and risks deepening existing inequalities. The cost of inaction is high and only likely to grow.
- The final report from the Commission for Healthier Working Lives makes recommendations for a bold long-term vision for a new approach, setting out practical steps to shift policy and action towards preventing people from having to leave the workforce. Reform should be guided by the following aims:
- prevention through best practice
- capacity for early, joined-up support
- incentives to support preventative action.
Record numbers of working-age people in the UK are experiencing ill health, especially musculoskeletal and mental health problems, that limits the type or amount of work they can do. This has a significant impact on both individuals and employers, but the government has the opportunity to set a fresh direction.
The independent Commission for Healthier Working Lives was established by the Health Foundation to build a consensus for the action needed by government and employers to meet our working-age health challenge.
The Commission’s final report sets out the need for a new approach to work and health, outlining seven key recommendations to lay the foundation for sustained long-term change. It details the current work and health challenge, including the barriers to action for employers and issues with the existing social security system. It also looks at past and present UK labour market policies and international success stories before setting out recommendations to build a more coordinated and effective workplace support and benefits system. These include reforming statutory sick pay rates, a new ‘vocational rehabilitation benefit’ to help people stay in work when statutory sick pay ends and a caseworker-led service to give people the right support at the right time – starting while still employed.
Given the challenges identified, success will require commitment to a positive long-term vision focused on protecting people’s health and employment. The recommendations proposed show what needs to change to build healthier working lives in the UK. With an ageing population and rising mental health challenges in the younger population, the time to act is now.
Reports and evidence for the Commission for Healthier Working Lives
Employment, economic inactivity and incapacity: past lessons and implications for future policy (Paul Gregg)
Exploring the interactions between job quality, industries and health (Institute for Employment Studies)
Work and health: international comparisons with the UK (Institute for Employment Studies)
An exploration of local variations in health and job outcomes across the UK (Learning and Work Institute)
Supporting workers’ health and access to better work: Exploring the role for government, services and employers (Learning and Work Institute)
Lived experiences of work and health: Challenges and pathways (ClearView Research)