1. Improving Lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper
Charlotte Spencer
Deputy Director, Policy Work and Health Unit
Thursday 17 November 2016

2. The case for change
OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE

3. The disability employment gap is too wide – we want to narrow it.

5. Building a shared vision

6. Green Paper proposals - Employers
A balanced package to encourage action and innovation while also committing to understanding what works with a view to longer term reform
Providing the support needed to recruit and retain disabled people
Announcing Disability Confident Business Leaders Group to increase engagement around disabled employment
Consulting on evolving current Government schemes and barriers to take up of Group Insurance Products
Helping employers manage sickness absence, including consulting on reform of Statutory Sick Pay
Changing culture to improve workplace wellbeing and retention of disabled employees:
Consulting on how: Government can best provide and publicise accessible information and guidance; to facilitate employer networks; to empower employees to manage their condition and help employers make adjustments
Encouraging employers to collect data on disability and ill-health
Building the business case for investing in supporting health and disability in the workplace.
Setting out where the public sector is an exemplar

7. Occupational health services is patchy
Organisation size
Access to occupational health services
(% of employers)
Subsidised private medical insurance
Small (1-50) 11 18
Medium (51-249) 46 53
Large (250+) 79 61
All 13 20
Only 30% of UK workforce in 2010 had access to specialised occupational healthcare
Urgent measures are required… if the level of capacity of the occupational
medicine workforce is to meet the nations’ needs.
APPG on Occupational Safety & Health
Source: Health at work – an independent review of sickness absence
Faculty of OH Report - Future Directions for Occupational Healthcare in the UK

8. Green Paper proposals – Health services
Helping people access the right support at the right time:
Review of Fit Note, and options for referrals to OH assessment and advice as a matter of course where appropriate;
Trialling mental health support in new settings
Consulting on how Occupational Health, vocational rehab and related provision can be better matched to individuals’ needs
Announcing plans to increase access to IAPT programme and more than double number of Employment Advisers in talking therapies
Consulting on developing and testing new and more effective pathways of care for MSK conditions
Embedding work as a health outcome, including through building workforce capability and capacity
Supporting joined-up health and employment services, which are locally designed and delivered
Consulting on our intention to set a standard for employment information in NHS health data sets, to monitor working-age health and employment
Consulting on plans to provide a basket of health and work indicators at local level
Consulting on improved sharing of health and employment data, innovation, co-location and local networks, all to support local service integration

9. We want your views

10. Consultation Process
The Green Paper publication marks the start of a public consultation – running until 17th February 2017
Ways to get involved
An online survey on Citizen Space provides simple and accessible way to respond to all consultation questions:
Series of stakeholder-led consultation events
responses to
Write to The Work, Health and Disability Consultation, Ground Floor, Caxton House, 6-12 Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NA
Or you can me directly at: