Keep Britain Working continues drive to stop people falling out of the workforce

Keep Britain Working continues drive to stop people falling out of the workforce
Nearly 200 workplaces have signed up to be “Vanguards” preventing people dropping out of work due to ill-health, in a new milestone for the programme.
- Over 250 employers, 10 mayoral authorities and all 3 devolved administrations work with Sir Charlie Mayfield, reshaping how disability and ill-health are supported at work.
- Latest Keep Britain Working report shows shared responsibility and better data, supported by personalised plans will be key to helping people remain in work.
- A new Workplace Health Intelligence Unit will track sickness absence, return-to-work outcomes and disability participation making workplace health performance visible for the first time.
They are among more than 250 employers, providers and organisations which have worked closely with former John Lewis chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield’s Keep Britain Working Review to help reshape how health and disability are supported such as through stay-in-work and return-to-work plans.
Working with businesses big and small, the programme is building a new system that puts earlier workplace support at its heart in order to tackle one of the most urgent workforce challenges facing the country, with 2.8 million people being currently out of work due to long-term sickness.
His report to Welfare Secretary Pat McFadden last year set out clear actions for employers to ensure people are getting the right support to successfully keep them in work and thriving. These are now being developed and tested in businesses, groups and mayoral authorities across the country. Since the beginning of the Keep Britain Working Review, there has been engagement with businesses and local government in every part of the UK.
Sir Charlie Mayfield, author of the Keep Britain Working Review & Co-Chair of the Keep Britain Working programme, said:
For too long, the system has been organised around supporting people after they get ill or face barriers. We need to shift the emphasis to earlier action, better integration, and a genuine, shared commitment to keeping people healthy and in work. What’s been striking is not just the quality of insight we’ve seen from vanguards, but the shared ambition and enthusiasm in regions and across such a wide range of employers.
It’s rare to find an opportunity that benefits employers, improves people’s life chances, and reduces government spending – all without large up-front investment. This is growth hiding in plain sight. Our work so far demonstrates this is all achievable and the benefits are significant.
Sir Charlie said employers must be ‘on the pitch’, engaging in employee health and well-being, measuring outcomes and developing ‘stay in work and return to work plans.’
The current vanguards demonstrate the benefits to work and health for employees, especially when providers make support more accessible and affordable.
Work is underway on a ‘standard’ for employers who offer a certain level of workplace health provision, at a level which is affordable.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said:
The response from employers has been remarkable. Across every region and every sector, businesses want to do better by their workforce; they just need the right framework and the right support.
Keep Britain Working is delivering both. A new national standard, better data, and real accountability. This is how we fix the broken system, keep people in work and grow our economy.
As a part of this, a new Workplace Health Intelligence Unit will be created, which will collect standardised data from employers and providers across the UK to increase dramatically the focus on prevention and to enable proactive steps to address emerging health issues
Currently, sickness absence is tracked inconsistently, and return-to-work outcomes are rarely measured. The Unit will enable benchmarking, drive improvement, and will give government a stronger evidence base.
Health and Social Care Secretary James Murray said:
For too long, too many people have been handed fit notes without any extra support. What they really need is help to stay in work or get back to work safely.
A piece of paper that so often closes doors is no substitute for a plan that opens them. That’s why we’re shifting the focus from signing people off to helping them stay in work or return as soon as they are ready.
Good work is good for health. By helping employers step in earlier and work more closely with the NHS, we can help more people live healthier, more independent lives, ease pressure on the NHS and support economic growth.
Thirty Vanguard organisations took part in intensive employer-led “sprints” - working with each other on best practice regarding prevention, staying in work, returning to work, and data gathering which can be adopted more widely
Seventy further organisations and ten regional workshops including small and medium sized businesses tested those findings, ensuring a broad coverage and input from across the UK.
Following these sprints, the message from employers was consistent: we must focus on outcomes, not paperwork and process. The report sets out a clear emerging direction with the need to create:
- Shared responsibility: where employers, employee, providers and government all have a role to play in delivering a new system which better supports people to remain in work successfully
- Better data: as the engine for change, driving accountability, market quality and long-term system improvement.
This progress sits within a £3.5 billion employment support package. WorkWell, backed by £259 million will support up to 250,000 people to stay in or return to work. Connect to Work will reach 300,000 sick or disabled people with tailored support. Over 1,000 full-time Pathways to Work advisers are already in place across Britain.
The government is also committed to further steps to bring about effective and sustainable reform, and this will be guided by the Milburn and Timms reviews, which are due to conclude later this year.
Phillippa O’Connor, Chief People Officer at PwC, commented on the Keep Britain Working Review:
Keeping people in work has to be at the heart of tackling economic inactivity. We’ve built a system that’s focussed on responding once people have left work rather than preventing them from leaving in the first place.
That’s what this review is starting to change and it’s great to see the momentum of more employers taking action.
Our experience in the ‘stay in work’ sprint shows that earlier, targeted interventions - backed by better data and well-supported line managers - can stop short-term sickness becoming long-term absence. Crucially, the success of stay in work plans depend on shared responsibility between employers and employees working together.
The priority now is turning that insight into consistent practice across UK workplaces, by scaling what works and creating the right conditions for open conversations about health and wellbeing.”
Alistair Cochrane, CEO Royal Mail said:
We know how important work is for people’s wellbeing, and how challenging it can be when health issues start to affect someone’s ability to stay in work.
At Royal Mail, there is a collective sense of purpose in helping colleagues remain in work wherever possible, with the right support in place.
Being part of the Keep Britain Working programme allows us to play our part in developing better support, earlier interventions and more personalised approaches that help colleagues stay connected to work.
Diane Lightfoot, CEO, Business Disability Forum:
We were pleased to support Keep Britain Working’s disability inclusion sprint by facilitating stakeholder feedback workshops with some of the Vanguard employers. The workshops gave employers the opportunity to discuss the types of support they provide and the outcomes they would like to see for their employees around health and wellbeing in the workplace. It is good to see so many Business Disability Forum Members becoming Vanguard employers and engaging in this agenda.
Anne Hayes, Director of Standards Development, British Standards Institution, said:
It’s incredibly positive to see that nearly 200 workplaces have signed up to be “Vanguards” preventing people dropping out of work due to ill-health.
The role employers play in helping people stay in work should not be underestimated. Our recent report, The Value of Creating a Culture of Trust, found that the UK could be losing £9.9 billion in productivity each year because employees feel unable to speak openly about their health and wellbeing, and miss out on the support they need to continue to contribute.
Nearly half of staff who are not confident raising health concerns with their employer have left a role or taken extended leave as a result.
At BSI we are proud to be partnering with the Mayfield Review to enable employers to help organisations create healthier working lives throughout every stage of employment, and ultimately build workplace cultures rooted in trust.
Emma Taylor, Tesco Chief People Officer, said:
We’ve long recognised that Tesco has an important role to play in supporting health and wellbeing at work. We want colleagues to feel supported and able to thrive, which is why we continue to invest in services that help them access advice and support when they need it, including our Employee Assistance Programme and 24/7 Virtual GP service. By making it easier for colleagues to seek help and address concerns early, we can support better health outcomes and help colleagues stay well in work.
Prevention is more effective than cure, but creating a truly preventative system requires employers, healthcare providers and government to work together. That’s why we’re proud to be a Vanguard Employer for Keep Britain Working and welcome the progress being made towards helping more people stay healthy and thrive in work.
Additional Information:
- Please see the second ‘Story so far’ report.
- The latest list of organisations who have expressed an interest in working with us in the Vanguard:
- The Regional Vanguards working with us are: