The report warned ministers that providing more support for people with poor health could save the UK government more than £1 billion in support.
Just as Prime Minister Rachel Reeves sought savings ahead of the March 26 spring statement, the Off-Road Commission called for a new approach to support eight million people in the UK with limited health conditions.
Another analysis published on Monday by the Trade Union Assembly (TUC) found that the number of days lost to work-related health conditions has rapidly grown to 34 million since 2010, which has cost the UK economy more than £400 million.
Union bodies said this stressed the importance of the government’s Bill of Employment Rights – returning to Parliament this week – to improve the quality of work in the UK.
“We need to be tested over the past 14 years to undermine the low-level economic model in the UK. Making workers more control and predictability of life helps create a happier, healthier, and more robust workforce,” said TUC Secretary-General Paul Nowak.
The panel of business leaders, unions and health experts from the Healthier Work Life Committee, convened by the nonpartisan health foundation Thinktank, said the additional support to help more people participate in the workforce, which will save more money. It said getting people to work is crucial for economic growth, reducing welfare bills and building a healthier UK.
“The narrow posening for short-term welfare savings and reductions in titles NHS waiting lists the risks of duplicating past policy failures and limiting the impacts,” the report said.
The Healthier Work Life Commission calls for progressively changing work support for people with health conditions, concludes that a more proactive approach can help at least 100,000 people stay in work within five years.
It said: “Even after paying the support fee, this could save £1.1 billion in five years and make a considerable savings in the ongoing savings beyond that.”
It says the current support system for people with poor health is dispersed, inconsistent, and help after leaving work, rather than helping them continue to work.
One of its suggestions is a new “return to work offer” that guarantees that if people try to find a job, people will lose benefits within at least 18 months.
It also calls for the introduction of vocational rehabilitation benefits to support people for up to 12 months to help them transition to employment, review of the statutory pathological compensation system, and launching caseworker-led services to provide independent advice to employers, advocate for workers’ advocacy and recommend to broader support.
The UK is one of the few developed countries with lower employment rates than a few countries before the Kuved pandemic, as the number of workers leaving the workforce has increased dramatically due to the long-term illness.
The committee’s analysis shows that the number of unemployed people who are unemployed due to poor health increases by 300,000 per year due to poor health, and once they leave, it is difficult to return.
After the newsletter promotion
The government’s plan for welfare reform is expected to be recommended in the coming days by labor and pension secretary Liz Kendall in the tense parts of the labor level.
The Treasury is believed to be seeking a £5 billion cut in the welfare bill as the prime minister seeks savings to ensure an updated forecast is released in the spring statement.
It is believed that Kendall is pushing for the re-planning of investing most of his money into long-term patients, and the Treasury is believed to be beneficial to leverage savings to avoid tax increases or to cut spending elsewhere.
The work and pension minister told The Guardian last week that helping more and more people return to work is the best way to cut the benefits bill. She rejected the proposal of a rift with the Prime Minister but refused to deny that the Ministry of Finance hopes to save up to £500 million.
A DWP spokesman said: “We are already well aware that the current welfare system has been undermined and needs reform, so it can help long-term patients and disabled people who can work to find employment to ensure people get the support they need while being fair to taxpayers.
“Without reform, even though many people want to work, more people are still tied up and exited. It’s not only bad for the economy, but also harmful to people.
“We have a responsibility to put the welfare bill on a more sustainable path and we will achieve this through meaningful, principled reforms rather than cutting spending. That’s why as part of the “Change Plan”, we will soon propose our reform proposals that will unlock work and help us achieve our ambitions to 80% employment.”
