New plan to keep West Midlands Combined Mayoral Authority working

• West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) named among the areas helping shape Britain's first Workplace Health System.
• Local employers, health providers and disabled people in West Midlands Combined Authority are helping design a new system to keep people healthy, supported and in work.
• The move is part of the Keep Britain Working programme's drive to tackle the £212 billion national cost of health-related economic inactivity and drive growth, including in West Midlands Combined Authority.

WMCA is one of over 200 Vanguard organisations helping build Britain's first Workplace Health System.

The Workplace Health System is a new approach that brings together employers, the NHS, local leaders and support services, so people with health conditions get help early and do not fall out of work unnecessarily.

It comes as former John Lewis boss Sir Charlie Mayfield, who leads the Keep Britain Working programme, publishes a report showing how tackling worklessness could deliver one of the UK's biggest opportunities for growth.

Across Britain, 2.8 million people of working age are economically inactive because of ill health or disability, while millions more are working with health conditions or facing barriers that limit what they can do. In WMCA area, almost 130,000 are off work due to being long-term sick, reflecting a challenge felt in communities right across the region.

An employer standard is also being developed with the British Standards Institution, alongside affordable support for smaller firms through pooled buying and insurance routes, so good workplace health support is not just available to big companies. This could be particularly valuable for WMCA's many small businesses.

Few employers can currently tell how well they keep staff with health conditions in work, or whether people are still in work six months on. A new employer data project starting this autumn aims to fix that.

WMCA has been part of this effort, working alongside employers and providers across the county.

Sir Charlie Mayfield, author of the Keep Britain Working Review and Co-Chair of the Keep Britain Working programme, said:

"Britain has spent too long treating economic inactivity as a welfare problem. It is not.

"Instead, it's one of the largest and most attainable growth opportunities this country has.

"We've had a National Health Service for almost 80 years. We've never had a Workplace Health System. That is why the same people keep appearing on the welfare bill, on NHS waiting lists and in the productivity figures without anyone being able to join them up.

“It's also why we are missing the best moment to help people. The new Workplace Health System would change that.

"Ten months of building and testing with employers, mayors, providers, unions and disabled people have made us even clearer about what needs to change and more confident that a new system that helps to drive economic growth is within reach.

"The task now is to build it."

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said:

"Too many people fall out of work because of a health problem that could have been caught earlier, and too many employers have no way of knowing whether they are getting this right.

"This programme is working hand in hand with employers, mayors and local leaders, including in West Midlands Combined Mayoral Authority, to change that, so that good workplace health support is not just for big companies and delivers growth across every postcode."

Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: 

“Too many people across the West Midlands want to work and get on in life, but are being held back by barriers that they should be getting help to overcome.

"Good work is about more than a pay packet. It brings security, independence, and pride, and when people are locked out of work, we’re also missing out on their skills and talent.

"West Midlands Works is about changing that. By working alongside the Keep Britain Working programme and employers, we can give people the right support to get into work, stay in work and build a better future for themselves and their families.”

For ten months, the programme has been developing ideas for a new system with employers, providers, places, unions and disabled people across all four nations of the UK, with local projects exploring different elements.

Over the next year the programme will test the employer standard and the workplace health support model with Vanguards, including partners in West Midlands Combined Authority, and build the evidence on what works.

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 supports over 1,500 sick or disabled people in West Midlands Combined Authority with tailored support. Over 1,000 full-time Pathways to Work advisers are already in place across Britain, including in WMCA.

The government is also committed to further steps to bring about effective and sustainable reform, guided by the Milburn and Timms reviews, due to conclude later this year.