South West gets £21.6m to help sick and disabled people stay in work

What if the support to stay in your job arrived before you were ever signed off?

That is the idea behind a health and employment service now coming to the South West, backed by up to £21.6 million of Government funding. It is called WorkWell, and the people behind it reckon it can reach those struggling with health conditions before things reach breaking point.

What WorkWell actually does

WorkWell is a locally designed, health-led service that pulls together NHS, council and community support. The aim is to step in early, before a health issue forces someone out of their job, or to help them back into work quickly if they have already fallen out of it.

It works differently to the employment support people might be used to. Rather than starting with the job, it starts with the person and their health. That means connecting people to things like physiotherapy, counselling and workplace adjustment advice, all based on what each individual actually needs.

Anyone of working age with a health condition or disability can access it. There is no benefits claim required. Participants get a personalised assessment from a Work and Health Coach, who helps work out what is holding them back and draws up a plan to deal with it. Referrals can come through employers, GPs, Jobcentre Plus, local services or by referring yourself, which the Government is calling a no-wrong-door approach.

Support varies depending on the area, but it can include physiotherapy for back pain and mobility issues, mental health support such as counselling, workplace adjustment advice for employers, and ongoing help managing a health condition.

Why the South West

The £21.6 million follows a WorkWell pilot that ran across 15 areas covering roughly a third of England. That pilot supported around 34,000 people. Of those, 47% said mental illness was their main barrier to employment, and 57% were out of work when they first walked through the door.

In the South West, the rate of inactivity due to long-term sickness stands at 5%. Nationally, the Government has inherited a challenge of 2.8 million people out of work because of long-term sickness, and the expansion is part of its push to bring that figure down alongside NHS waiting lists.

The national rollout is backed by up to £259 million over the next three years and could help up to 250,000 more people across England.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Pat McFadden said: “Too often, people in the South West 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 around 34,000 people to remain in their jobs and helped others get back to work.

“Now we’re rolling this out in the South West and beyond, supporting people stay healthy and employed, benefitting local people, businesses, and our economy.”

The end of the fit note?

The announcement lands at the same time as the Government launches pilots to replace the fit note. That is the form currently issued more than 11 million times a year, and the plan is to swap it for personalised stay-in-work or back-to-work plans instead. The thinking is that people get support sooner and GPs get some time back.

Those pilots will be tested at four existing WorkWell sites and through what the Government calls Keep Britain Working Vanguard employers, including EDF Energy.

WorkWell sits at the centre of the Government’s Pathways to Work offer, part of a wider £3.5 billion employment support package. That package also includes Connect to Work, which is set to provide personalised job support for 300,000 people by the end of the decade, plus more than 1,000 specialist advisers now working in Jobcentres across the country.

The South West’s £21.6 million is the smallest regional allocation of the lot. The Midlands tops the table at £47.1 million, with London on £40.3 million and North East & Yorkshire on £36.3 million.