Government publishes plan to Get Britain Working

The government has published its plan to get Britain working again.

The Get Britain Working Whitepaper was published last week (26^th November 2024) and sets out the government’s plans to tackle “spiralling economic inactivity” and get Britain growing again.

It forms a key part of the government’s commitment to build “an inclusive and thriving labour market,” to help boost living standards and ensure that public services can be properly funded. It also feeds into their mission to breakdown barriers to opportunity and improve the nation’s health.

The joint ministerial foreword to the Get Britain Working whitepaper states:

• 8 million people are locked out of work due to long-term sickness
• 1 in 8 young people is not in education, employment or training
• 9 million adults lack the basic skills they need to get on

Penned by Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting, it argues that there are people across the UK “who cannot access the support they need to improve their living standards and build a better life,” and that employers “are desperate to recruit but cannot find people with the right skills to fill well-paying roles.”

Promising “radical reform,” the Get Britain Working Whitepaper outlines a new approach and plans for £240 million worth of investment.

Ministers assert:

“Rather than writing people off, our reforms target and tackle the root causes behind why people are not working, joining up help and support, based on the needs of local people and local places.”

Get Britain Working plan sets out reforms to employment support

The government has set a long-term target for an 80% employment rate. This equates to getting over 2 million more people into work and would place the UK among the highest performing countries in the world.

The government approach for achieving this ambition is based on 3 pillars:

1. A modern Industrial Strategy and Local Growth Plans to create more jobs across the country
2. Improving the quality and security of work through the Plan to Make Work Pay
3. Reforming employment support to connect skills and health to support more people into work and help them get on in work

The Get Britain Working Whitepaper addresses the third pillar through fundamental reforms planned to tackle 6 key issues:

• A high number of people are currently excluded from the labour market, including those with health conditions, caring responsibilities or lower skill levels
• Too many young people leave school without essential skills or access to further learning, apprenticeships or support to work
• Many people are stuck in insecure, poor quality and low-paying work. The government says this contributes to a weaker economy and affects worker health and wellbeing
• Women with families still experience challenges staying in and progressing in work
• Employers often struggle to fill vacancies due to labour and skills shortages. This prevents economic growth and undermines living standards
• Labour market outcomes differ widely between different places and for different groups of people

The Whitepaper says that the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic have worsened these long-term issues.

In addition, ministers claim that the current employment support system does not provide enough support for people with disabilities or health conditions and is too focused on benefits and compliance at the expense of real help to get people into work.

They want better support for people to get back into work, better access to training, apprenticeships or work for young people, more help for people to get a job or upskill and better support for employers to recruit, retain and develop staff.

Key actions to Get Britain Working

The Get Britain Working Whitepaper therefore sets out wide-ranging proposals for action and change. These include:

• Scaling up the contribution of the NHS and wider health system to improve employment outcomes. This includes support to reduce waiting lists in 20 NHS trusts across England with the highest levels of health-related economic inactivity and steps to tackle key public health issues such as mental health problems, smoking and obesity
• Supporting local areas to shape an effective work, health and skills offer for local people. As part of this, they will work with Mayoral authorities in England and the Welsh Government to enable them to lead the way. All areas of England will be supported to develop local Get Britain Working plans and local partners with work together to deliver these. The government has pledged £115 million in funding in 2025 to kickstart these local plans and enable local areas in England and Wales to put new back-to-work support in place for people who are economically inactive.
• Delivering a Youth Guarantee that ensures that all 18-21 year-olds in England have access to education, training or help to find a job or apprenticeship. Measures will include transforming the Apprenticeship Levy into a more flexible Growth and Skills Levy and the creation of new foundation and shorter apprenticeship opportunities for young people in key sectors. They will also explore a new approach to benefit rules for young people to ensure they can develop skills alongside searching for employment.
• Establishing a new jobs and careers service to help people get into work and get on at work. They want to bring the Jobcentre Plus together with the National Careers Service in England to provide a digital, universal and fully inclusive service based around personalised support to help people get into work, build their skills and progress in their career. This will be underpinned by a clear expectation that jobseekers will do all they can to find employment. The government says £55 million has been allocated next year to kickstart these reforms.
• Launching an independent review into the role of UK employers in promoting healthy and inclusive workplaces. This will consider how employers can be supported to increase the recruitment and retention of people with disabilities and health conditions, to prevent people becoming unwell at work and promote healthy workplaces and implement early intervention strategies for sickness absence and increase returns to work. The review will run until summer 2025 and will engage with employers, employees, trade unions, health experts and people with disabilities and health conditions. It will work alongside the government’s Make Work Pay reforms, which aim to tackle job insecurity and expand flexible working opportunities.

The government has also promised to publish a Green Paper in Spring 2025 to set out reforms to the health and disability benefits system so that it “better enables people to enter and remain in work, and to respond to the complex and fluctuating nature of the health conditions many people live with today.”

Get Britain Working proposals promise “transformative journey”

Ministers acknowledge that the ambitious plans outlined in the Get Britain Working Whitepaper “require government to work in a very different way” and be “more joined up across central government, especially in relation to work, health and skills, and forging a new relationship between the UK, devolved and local governments, as well as with other partners like the NHS, colleges, employers, trade unions and civil society.”

When the plans were unveiled last week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:

“Our reforms put an end to the culture of blaming and shaming people who for too long haven’t been getting the support they need to get back to work. Helping people into decent, well-paid jobs and giving our children and young people the best start in life – that’s our plan to put more money in people’s pockets, unlock growth and make people better off.”

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) said their members would be “at the forefront of turning these plans into action, driving change on the ground and working collaboratively with other specialists within their businesses.”

Responding to the Whitepaper, Ceri Finnegan, Senior Policy and Public Affairs Manager at IOSH, said more action was needed to support small businesses and protect older workers.

She explained that, while IOSH supported plans to promote and enable safe and healthy work, they “would like to see greater emphasis on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We want to ensure they have the resources to invest in prevention, early intervention and rehabilitation around occupational health, including mental health.

“Department for Work and Pensions research shows only 18% of people employed by an SME have access to occupational health services, compared with 45% of workers overall. This is significantly lower than in comparable countries.”

In regards to older workers, she added:

“The Government rightly focuses on young people. But we want to ensure that older workers are not forgotten. Their skills, knowledge and experience are invaluable, not least in how they can mentor younger people entering the workforce. IOSH is keen to support the Government’s plans to ensure older workers remain in and return to work and can continue to contribute and thrive in the workplace.

This is the start of what could be a transformative journey, one which can lead to a brighter, healthier and safer future where millions more people benefit from good work. Let’s make change happen.”

Meanwhile, Dan White, Policy and Campaigns Officer at Disability Rights UK and one of the leads at the Disability Poverty Campaign Group raised concerns about the forthcoming Green Paper:

“We know many Disabled people wish to work and moves to provide more targeted and tailored support are welcome. However, the threat of a spring Green Paper, that proposed cuts to the benefits bill is very concerning. Disabled people living on social security are struggling to meet the basic costs of food, energy, medication, social care, transport and housing. Pushing us into even deeper poverty will not provide us with a route towards employment.”

Learning and development to help people thrive at work

First Response Training (FRT) is one of the UK’s largest and leading national training providers.

They deliver a wide and diverse range of training for businesses and organisations across all industry sectors and throughout the UK. Their course range includes training in the fields of health and safety, first aid, fire safety, manual handling, mental health, food safety, health and social care and more.

Their health and safety training is mapped to UK standards and legislation and follows HSE guidelines. The portfolio includes courses such as Health and Safety, Managing Health and Safety, Risk Assessment, Accident and Incident Investigation, Working at Height, Asbestos Awareness and many more.

They also provide training in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Learning Disability Awareness, as well as delivering the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism.

An accredited Mindful Employer themselves, FRT’s specialist mental health training courses include Understanding Mental Health, Mental Health Awareness in the Workplace, Managing Stress, Anxiety and Phobias Awareness, Self-Harm Awareness and Suicide Awareness.

They can also provide qualified, approved trainers to deliver accredited Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training courses, including the Adult, Youth and Lite versions.

A trainer from FRT says:

“We believe in creating safer working environments with people who care. This is our vision and central to our services. It means providing training that helps to protect worker health, safety and welfare. This includes their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

“To boost recruitment and retention, and ensure workers feel happy and confident in their roles and can progress and thrive at work, organisations need to provide regular learning and development opportunities.

“It’s important to focus on developing positive workplace health and safety cultures that value and protect workers’ health, safety and wellbeing.”

You can download FRT’s free guide to creating a happy and inclusive working environment from their website.

For more information on the training that FRT can provide, please call them today on freephone 0800 310 2300 or send an e-mail to info@firstresponsetraining.com.