South Yorkshire 'becoming UK's first prevention economy'
South Yorkshire is once again becoming a trailblazer region as part of the Government’s drive to keep people healthy and in work.
The mayoral combined authority is set form a three-year partnership with Sir Charlie Mayfield, to tackle his Keep Britain Working Review findings
Published today, the review finds that one in five working-age adults are now out of the labour force, 800,000 more than before Covid across the UK.
The cost of ill health equals 7 per cent of GDP, which is more than two-thirds of income tax receipts.
And employers lose £85bn a year from sickness and lost productivity.
Sir Charlie said: “"Britain is sliding into an avoidable crisis. Ill-health has become one of the biggest brakes on growth and opportunity. But this is not inevitable.”
In response, South Yorkshire MCA will be partnering with the Government and employers to reshape how health issues are managed in the workplace.
This will include companies such as British Airways, Google and Sainsbury’s, who will build up an evidence base over the next three years.
Sir Charlie added: “Employers are uniquely placed to make a difference, preventing health issues where possible, supporting people when they arise, and helping them return to work.
“If we keep Britain working, everyone wins – people, employers, and the state.”
South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard said: “In South Yorkshire we’re building the UK’s first prevention economy - shifting the focus from fixing problems after they happen, to preventing them in the first place.
“We’re encouraging businesses to invest in the health and wellbeing of people who work for them and working with partners, such as Westfield Health, on our new £7m partnership to create the Sport Legacy Institute.
“I’m delighted that South Yorkshire is one of the areas selected by the government to provide new solutions to help people thrive in employment.”
The region was previously chosen as one of nine “inactivity trailblazers” because of its industrial history, research and innovation in this area.
The Pathways to Work commission in Barnsley, chaired by former Health Secretary Alan Milburn, found there has been a misguided focus on toughening up benefit rules instead of tackling root causes of why people are out of work, such as ill-health.
This was used by the Government to form the basis of its policy to encourage people back into work.
The commission called on bringing together work, health and skills support in a radical new approach to help people overcome barriers to employment.
Taking learnings from this, the multi-million pound fund will launch a dedicated new service to help employers to hire people with health conditions.
It will also create a new triage system to make it quicker and easier to connect people to employment, health, and skills support.