Healthy Working Wales responds to the Keep Britain Working Review

In response to the findings in Sir Charlie Mayfield’s recently published Keep Britain Working Review, Healthy Working Wales (HWW) is reaffirming its commitment to preventing sickness absence, supporting people to stay in work, and helping employers in Wales build healthier, more resilient workplaces.

Key findings in the Review include:

  • Employers lose £85 billion a year from sickness, turnover, and lost productivity
  • One in five working-age adults are now out of the labour force due to health reasons – 800,000 more than in 2019
  • The cost of ill-health that prevents work equals 7% of GDP – nearly 70% of all income-tax receipts

In response, the UK government will partner with employers to reshape how health issues and disabilities are managed in the workplace with the launch of employer-led Vanguards (early adopters who will develop and refine workplace health approaches over the next three years to build the evidence base for what works).

The Review finds that employers are “uniquely placed to ‘do’ prevention – by encouraging safe and early conversations about emerging health issues, making reasonable adjustments, supporting people swiftly, and offering flexibility for treatment and phased returns. They can act on prevention in ways the NHS can never do alone.”

HWW, a national programme funded by Welsh Government and delivered by Public Health Wales, is committed to supporting employers across Wales to create healthy workplaces, healthier workforces and stronger businesses. We provide businesses with practical guidance, resources and training to improve employee wellbeing, manage sickness absence and support staff in staying in work.

Additionally, we will be launching three exciting new, free products designed to improve workplace health and wellbeing. These are:

  • HWW Employer Survey Tool: Enables employers to assess their current approach to workplace health and wellbeing and get clear advice, feedback and suggested next steps to strengthen their workplace wellbeing strategy.
  • Workplace Adviser Support: Allows employers to access one-to-one, virtual support sessions from HWW’s Workplace Advisers to get simple ideas, tools and plans that they can put into action straight away in their workplace.
  • Peer Mentoring Programme: Helps employers across Wales to connect and share real-world experiences, practical knowledge and proven approaches to workplace health and wellbeing.

The new products will be formally launched at our new free services launch event in Cardiff on 12 November.

Additional information on our programme can be found on the HWW website or by contacting us at [email protected].