New Report Urges Change To Keep Britain Working

The Government’s Keep Britain Working Review, led by Sir Charlie Mayfield, warns that ill-health has become one of the biggest drivers of economic inactivity in the UK, costing an estimated £212 billion a year, equivalent to 7 per cent of GDP.
The report calls for a new national approach where employers, employees and government share responsibility for tackling health-related barriers to work.

With over one in five working-age adults now outside the labour market, largely because of long-term sickness or disability, the review argues that the UK is “getting older, living longer – but becoming sicker sooner”.

It recommends a three-part framework to help turn the tide:

• a Healthy Working Lifecycle to promote inclusion, prevention and early intervention;
• a Workplace Health Provision service to replace reliance on fit notes with proactive support; and
• a Workplace Health Intelligence Unit to strengthen evidence, data and incentives for employers.

The review urges ministers to launch a three-year Vanguard Phase to test employer-led solutions, embed better workplace health standards, and re-align incentives through tax, procurement and welfare reform.

Sir Charlie Mayfield said the aim is to create “a new deal” between government, employers and workers, ensuring that good work supports good health and national prosperity.

While Keep Britain Working is not an explicitly rural report, its recommendations touch directly on the challenges faced by rural employers and workforces.

Rural economies are older, more self-employed and dominated by small businesses, many without access to affordable occupational-health support. Health-related inactivity, recruitment pressures and gaps in local care provision all threaten the sustainability of vital rural services.

The Rural Services Network’s Delivering for All roadmap highlights how fair funding, better metrics and place-sensitive policy are essential to unlocking rural prosperity. A “Healthy Working Lifecycle” that works for everyone must recognise these spatial inequalities, including distance from health services, limited transport and digital connectivity, and the higher costs of providing local employment support.

Embedding the principles of Delivering for All would ensure that forthcoming workplace-health reforms are rural-proofed, with pilots and data collection that reflect the realities of dispersed communities and small-employer economies.