Places with the highest levels of joblessness will get extra NHS support as the Government bids to “get Britain working again”.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall will announce the plans on Tuesday as part of wide-ranging reforms designed to tackle economic inactivity and deliver the Government’s promise to bring more than two million people back into work.
She said: “To get Britain growing, we need to get Britain working again. Our reforms will break down barriers to opportunity, help people to get into work and on at work, allow local leaders to boost jobs and growth, and give our children and young people the best opportunities to get on in life.
“The Get Britain Working White Paper shows that this Government stands unashamedly for work. We will make sure everyone, regardless of their background, age, ethnicity, health, disability or postcode can benefit from the dignity and purpose work can bring.”
While unemployment stands at almost 1.5 million, economic inactivity has also soared to more than nine million, with 2.8 million people out of work due to long-term sickness – a major driver of the rise in joblessness since the pandemic.
Speaking to Times Radio on Tuesday morning, employment minister Alison McGovern said that post-pandemic recovery in employment numbers “didn’t happen in Britain”.
She told the station: “If you look at those international statistics, what you see is that post-pandemic almost all of the countries around the world except us recovered in employment terms. The employment rate did increase, people did go back to work.
“That didn’t happen in Britain, something is different, and the level of sickness that we’re experiencing as a country is really high.”
During the election, Labour promised to increase the employment rate to 80% from its current level of around 75%, which would mean around two million more people in work.
As well as providing extra capacity to cut waiting lists at the 20 NHS trusts with the highest levels of economic inactivity, Ms Kendall’s plans will see an expansion of mental health support and efforts to tackle obesity.
Alongside the focus on improving health, the Government’s plans will see Jobcentres replaced by a new National Jobs and Careers Service.
Backed by £55 million, the new system is expected to have a greater focus on helping people back into work rather than monitoring benefit claims.
Other policies include providing additional employment and training opportunities for young people and extra powers for mayors to develop their own employment plans.
Tackling economic inactivity, which has risen by 600,000 people since the pandemic, is seen as vital to both boosting economic growth and reducing a spiralling welfare bill that threatens to demand more resources from the Treasury.
On Tuesday morning, employment minister Ms McGovern declined to put a figure on how much the Government will reduce the welfare bill by.
Speaking to Times Radio, she said that “I’m not going to put a figure on it”.
She added: “Today we’re publishing the framework for reforms in this White Paper, we now need to do a lot of work to bring forward those reforms.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “From the broken NHS, flatlining economy, and the millions of people left unemployed and trapped in an inactivity spiral – this Government inherited a country that simply isn’t working.
“But today we’ve set out a plan to fix this. A plan that tackles the biggest drivers of unemployment and inactivity and gives young people their future back through real, meaningful change instead of empty rhetoric and sticking plaster politics.”
Sir Keir added that the Government’s reforms would “put an end to the culture of blaming and shaming people who for too long haven’t been getting the support they need to get back to work” and help people into “decent, well-paid jobs”.
But Ms Kendall also made clear that the Government expected those who were able to work to take up those opportunities.
Referring to the policies of the last Labour government, she told broadcasters on a visit to Peterborough: “We said there was no option of a life on benefits, and that principle remains the same today.”
The plans were welcomed by the Chartered Institute for Personal Development, whose CEO Peter Cheese said they were “a step in the right direction” but called for “more ambition” to “make apprenticeships a viable alternative to university”.
Disability charity Scope also welcomed the announcement as “a positive vision for supporting disabled people into work”, but warned a “lack of trust” in the Department for Work and Pensions could “seriously undermine” the plan.
Louise Rubin, Scope’s head of policy, said: “We know that disabled people fear being forced into unsuitable jobs, or losing benefits if they engage with employment services.
“The Government must remove these risks, and work with disabled people to transform employment support and fix our broken benefits system.”
Richard Kramer, chief executive at the national disability charity Sense, said that the focused approach to support disabled jobseekers into employment was welcome, but that a lot will need to be done to build trust.
He said: “Disabled people must not be left in fear that their benefits will be cut if they turn down job offers or training courses that don’t meet their needs.
“There is a lot that will need to be done to rebuild trust with disabled people and to work in partnership with local experts to really deliver this change.
“It is also vital to remember that not every disabled person is able to work and no-one ever should be pressured into taking a job at the expense of their health.”
Catherine Parsons, who oversees the Big Issue’s specialist employability service Big Issue Recruit, said that “scare tactics” will only exacerbate Britain’s work crisis.
She added: “We know that the steep rise in anxiety and mental health problems in young people has had a direct impact on their ability to find and retain good jobs.
“The new looming threat of having their benefits axed should they fail to summon the mental strength to accept work or training will only continue the vicious cycle of failure that has seen economic inactivity and the welfare bill spiralling out of control in recent years.
“Until the Government invests in ethical, empathetic, end-to-end employment support like Big Issue Recruit, any attempt to ‘Get Britain Working’ won’t work.”
