South Yorkshire used as 'proof-of-concept' for Government's back to work plans
South Yorkshire has been praised for providing a “prood-of-concept model” for the Government’s plans to get people back to work after suffering from long-term illness.
It found 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 has been used as a “proof-of-concept” for plans unveiled by Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall, in the House of Commons yesterday.
She warned that the benefits bill for sickness and disability is set to rise “by £26 billion by the end of this Parliament”, telling MPs that people who “can work, must work”.
The Government’s “Get Britain Working Again” plan is primarily aimed at returning some of the 2.8 million people out of work due to long-term sickness to the workplace.
Long-term sickness has been a major driver in joblessness since the pandemic, having risen from approximately two million in 2019.
The 20 places in England with the highest levels of joblessness will get more NHS staff to help cut waiting lists as part of the plans.
Extra mental health support is also set to be rolled out to coach people with mental illnesses into work, while job centres will be replaced by a new National Jobs and Careers Service.
This follows on from Barnsley’s Pathways to Work commission, which calls on bringing together work, health and skills support in a radical new approach to help people overcome barriers to employment.
Mr Milburn said: “We warmly welcome the Labour government’s support for our proof-of-concept model in South Yorkshire.
“Doubling down on getting more people out of economic inactivity is key to the UK raising the level of economic growth.
“The social costs of not doing so are catastrophic and so are the welfare costs.
“The movement for change advocated by our commission has begun in Barnsley and is now spreading across the UK.”
The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority will also get £10m to support its trailblazer programme.
Mayor Oliver Coppard, who was part of the Pathways to Work commission, said: “In South Yorkshire we have led the way in highlighting the importance of bringing work, health and skills together as we support people back into employment.
“We now have a Government that understands the importance of devolution and joined-up working, and together we are undertaking the biggest reforms to how we support people into work for a generation.”
Barnsley Council leader, Coun Sir Steve Houghton, added: ““Local knowledge, partnerships and systems reform will be at the heart of enabling all people to benefit from happy, healthy, productive lives.
“In Barnsley, we’re ahead of the curve, cracking on with solutions to help our people, communities and local economies to grow.
“We recognised the opportunity to develop better Pathways to Work and focused on driving innovation locally, so that we can support everyone who wants to work, into good work.”