Client: Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health and Social Care, working with 15 ICBs in England
Date: May 2024 - ongoing
Challenges faced by the client:
One of the UK’s biggest challenges is the number of people who are economically inactive due to ill health. Nearly 2.8 million people are out of work due to long-term sickness – a number that has grown since the pandemic.
The Learning & Work Institute estimates that raising the labour market participation rate from 78% to 80% could boost the economy by £23bn per year and boost the public finances by £8bn. For individuals, employment enhances overall well-being, contributes to a person's identity and sense of purpose, and can act as a protective factor against illness.
The government has put getting these people back to work at the heart of its mission to achieve economic growth, acknowledging the close relationship between a healthy workforce and a strong economy. The Joint Directorate on Work and Health – a collaboration between DWP and DHSC – is investing in 15 areas of England to 'test and learn' to find an effective way of integrating health services and employment support.
Support offered:
Mutual Ventures is working with PA Consulting as the delivery partner for the WorkWell Programme.
WorkWell aims to help 59,000 people that have health-related conditions to get the support they need to stay in or return to work. It focuses on people that are off work sick or have recently left employment in 15 'pilot areas' across England. Funded areas include Birmingham and Solihull, Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, North Central London and Cornwall. Grants have been made to Integrated Care Boards to work with local NHS, councils, JobCentre Plus and employers.
Our support includes:
Supporting the central delivery team to help 'bridge' the gap between policy objective and local delivery
Coaching 15 pilot areas to set-up their services, build relationships and solve key technical issues
Delivering a learning programme, bringing pilot areas together to share experiences and best practice in a quarterly cycle of events, webinars and networking
Creating a WorkWell Toolkit, to capture insights from across the Programme
Our support aims to help pilot areas to build strong local partnerships, as part of a wider aim to integrate health and work. The aim of the programme is to 'test and learn' the best ways to create local connections that will help people get back to work, and build the enablers and relationships between services.
Our impact:
WorkWell seeks to support 59,000 people back to work over the period until April 2026. In the first year of the Programme, we have supported pilot areas to get up-and-running and establish their delivery models, with services launched at the end of 2024.
Areas are now starting to accelerate delivery and seeing more referrals to their services - from GPs, local employers, Job Centre Plus, and self-referrals. There is clear anecdotal evidence of impact from the Programme in case studies and data from the first two quarters of delivery.
Keep up to date with MV's thinking on health and work here.
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