The latest report under the Keep Britain Working commission has called for the creation of a national workplace health system as a institution designed to prevent health related economic inactivity.
The report, under the authorship of former John Lewis chairman Charlie Mayfield, lays out implementation practicalities and supplements the original review published in November last year.
The report noted that while the UK has had an NHS since 1948, it has never had a Workplace Health System. It called for three components to a WHS, namely more inclusive workplaces, accessible workplace health provision, and trusted intelligence.
According to the latest report, health-related economic inactivity costs Britain around £212bn a year, around 7 per cent of GDP, £132bn of lost output, £45bn in health-related benefits, £37bn in lost output from unpaid carers, and £2bn in additional NHS costs.
It also bemoaned the fact that currently no employer in Britain can compare its retention of people with health conditions against a competitor’s.
It went to further claim that very few organisations measure whether the people it helps back to work are still there six months later. Additionally, “no provider of workplace health support competes reliably on outcomes, because no comparable outcomes exist”, it said.
Keep Britain Working has developed a draft model of support at work, which looks to ensure that employees and line managers should be able to turn to a trusted, impartial coordinator when a work and health issue needs more than a straightforward managerial response.
Paul Schreier, chief executive of The Simplyhealth Group and member of the Keep Britain Working advisory panel, says: “We welcome today’s progress update from the Keep Britain Working Review and its focus on prevention, early intervention, and helping people stay healthy in work.
“The report rightly recognises that the greatest opportunity lies in identifying challenges earlier and supporting people before they become detached from the labour market.”
Simplyhealth’s recent research found that more than half of employees have delayed seeking medical care in the last year, while employees reported losing an average of 2.1 working days because of delays or difficulties accessing healthcare.
Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for Group Risk Development (GRiD), says: “The Keep Britain Working team is to be commended on its ambition and clarity of approach towards building a British Workplace Health System to support avoidable work loss, help people with health conditions and disabilities to stay in work, or to achieve a sustainable return to work following a health-related absence.
“However, there is already a ready-made option, acknowledged in the report, which will enable employers to deliver on this – namely group income protection, which is insured long-term sick pay.”
Additionally, analysis by YuLife has shown that 54 per cent had worked while unwell, in pain or struggling with their mental health in the past month. More than one in four, 28 per cent, had done so several times or most days, rising to 34 per cent among under 35s.
Employees experiencing severe chronic pain were three times as likely to report taking time off for a health condition, and 2.4 times as likely to regularly work through ill health.
Of 42,408 people who flagged a stress, sleep, mood, pain or mental health risk since February, 87 per cent received a personalised recommendation within a day and 47 per cent went on to act on one.
Clare Lusted, head of product proposition for Unum UK, says: “The KBW report rightly recognises the importance of helping people to remain in work where possible, rather than waiting until they leave the workforce. We are particularly encouraged by the focus on practical workplace health provision, earlier support and shared responsibility between employers, employees, providers and government.
“The publication is also timely, following this week’s FCA Pure Protection Market Study. Together, these developments highlight the important role that workplace protection and health benefits can play in helping address protection gaps, improving access to support and delivering better outcomes for working people.”