The Government’s Keep Britain Working initiative represents one of the most significant shifts in employment policy in recent years. Led by Sir Charlie Mayfield, the review was established to address rising levels of health-related economic inactivity and examine the role employers can play in helping people stay in and return to work.
The backdrop is stark. According to the review, more than one in five working-age adults are economically inactive, with long-term health conditions now a major driver of labour market withdrawal. The number of people who are economically inactive due to ill health has risen significantly since 2019, while sickness absence and disability-related barriers continue to create challenges for employers and employees alike.
What distinguishes Keep Britain Working from previous initiatives is its focus on prevention rather than cure. Rather than concentrating solely on helping people back into employment following a prolonged absence, the review emphasises early intervention, workplace adjustments and sustained support to prevent people leaving work in the first place.
The proposals envisaged are likely to create additional demands on HR professionals at a time when employers are already grappling with increased employment costs, skills shortages and extensive employment law reform.
The real challenge for HR is that prevention can require a lower level of sustained resource over time, whereas crisis intervention tends to demand a much larger input of resource over a short period, once things have already gone wrong. Effective prevention requires investment in manager capability, occupational health support, workforce planning and proactive case management long before an employee reaches a crisis point. Yet many organisations only engage with workplace health once an absence issue arises or performance has already begun to deteriorate.
There is also likely to be renewed scrutiny of line manager capability. Managers are often the first to spot changes in attendance, engagement or performance, yet many feel ill-equipped to have conversations about health, disability or mental wellbeing. Investing in manager confidence and practical skills may ultimately deliver greater value than introducing another wellbeing initiative.
Creating a workplace culture where employees feel safe to disclose health concerns early, managers are trained to respond appropriately, and reasonable adjustments are implemented effectively is no longer simply a matter of legal compliance. It is increasingly central to organisational resilience, productivity and talent retention. In many cases, the steps that reduce legal risk are the same steps that improve employee engagement and retention: early conversations, informed medical advice, flexible problem-solving and a willingness to adapt roles where possible.
The emphasis on keeping people in work rather than managing them out of work also aligns with the expectations that employment tribunals increasingly place on employers when dealing with employees affected by ill health or disability. Employers are expected to demonstrate meaningful consultation, informed decision-making and genuine consideration of alternatives before progressing capability, performance or attendance-related processes. In practice, that means HR teams should view occupational health referrals, adjustment reviews and manager-led wellbeing conversations not as procedural hurdles, but as evidence that the organisation has taken reasonable and proportionate steps to support an employee to remain in work.
As the Keep Britain Working agenda develops, employers may find that workforce health becomes an area where good people management and legal risk management are increasingly difficult to separate.
The Keep Britain Working agenda is challenging employers to think differently about health at work. However, creating healthier and more inclusive workplaces cannot be the responsibility of employers alone. If workplace health is to become a driver of economic growth, employers will need not only encouragement but practical support, accessible occupational health provision and a system that recognises the challenges facing organisations of different sizes and resources.