Keep Britain Working - Evidence Submission

A key priority for the Government is reversing the increase in economic inactivity due to ill health and disability.

Doing so will involve doing two things: firstly, supporting more disabled people and those with health conditions successfully into good work, but secondly, doing more to prevent people with a work-limiting condition from falling out of the labour market. More than one in five people of working age now report a work-limiting health condition.

On the second of these, the Government recently asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to chair a review of the role of UK employers in tackling health-related inactivity and creating healthy and inclusive workplaces. The review team published a "Discovery" report on 20 March 2025, which set out their assessment of the challenge.

The briefing below sets out Reed in Partnership's submission in response to a call for evidence on this report. We argue that employers need more advice at key points in the process, and recommend that an advice and information service is set up for employers to call on at key points. We think the priority is tackling the confidence and communication gap, to make ongoing employer/employee conversations about health and disability support needs “business as usual.”

You can read the full report below.

Download the full report →