Nearly a million UK workers are forced to take a continuous stretch of a month or more off work each year due to illness, analysis has revealed, as the government gears up to launch its occupational health assessment service in April.
The new Health and Work Service will provide assessments, case management and treatment plans to employees in the early stages of sickness absence in a bid to drive down the 130m working days lost to illness each year.
Under the scheme GPs and employers will be able to refer workers for assessment once they are absent, or expected to be absent, from work due to illness for four weeks. Employees will also be able to self refer to the service.
It is intended the work-focused health assessment service will identify the issues preventing an employee from returning to work and draw up a plan for them, their employer and GP recommending how the employee can be helped back to work more quickly.
The plan will include a timetable for a return to work, fitness for work advice, as well as signposting to appropriate help. It will also provide an advice service on the internet and telephone for anyone who needs it.
Once the scheme comes into effect, firms will be able to receive a tax break of up to £500 for any medical interventions to help employees get back to work.
The government analysis of Labour Force Survey figures from between October 2010 and September 2013 reveal that musculoskeletal disorders account for a third of all long-term absence from work – a continuous spell of more than four weeks – and mental ill health around a fifth.
A little over 40% of long-term absence is accounted for by workers aged between 50 and 64, even though the age bracket only represents 24% of the UK’s working population. Employees aged under 40 – some 48% of the working population – account for 30% of the country’s long-term sickness absence.
The new Health and Work Service will be funded through the abolition of the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) Percentage Threshold Scheme (PTS) – which the government says is an “outdated” system which does not promote or support active management of sickness absence by either the employer or employee.
Source: British Safety Council https://sm.britsafe.org/new-health-and-work-service-tackle-million-workers-long-term-sick-each-year