Our work

Our aim is to improve the general health and well-being of the working age population and to support more people with health conditions to stay in work, or enter employment.

This will bring benefits to individuals through better health, as well as to employers through improved productivity and reduced sickness absence. It will also lead to savings for Government through fewer people claiming sickness benefits, reduced health spending.

To achieve this, we need to work with employers, trades unions and healthcare professionals to deliver:

healthier workplaces
more effective occupational health services
better rehabilitation support
more employment opportunities for people not in work due to ill health or disability.

We identify and promote good practice

Gathering case studies – to understand and foster best practice.
Undertaking and evaluating research – building the evidence base for action.
Recognising good practice through award programmes – for example, the Healthy Working Lives Awards in Scotland, the Corporate Health Standards in Wales and our sponsorship of the National Business Awards and the Business in the Community Awards 2010.

We drive change

Educating individuals and raising awareness through national communications campaigns such as HSE’s Better Backs and the Welsh Assembly Government’s Welsh Backs campaigns.
- HSE’s Better Backs
- Welsh Backs
Improving the range and capacity of occupational health services.
Providing practical and effective support for employers – especially small businesses.
Encouraging public sector organisations to lead by example on health at work.
Delivering a range of proof-of-concept projects to demonstrate the value of integrating health and employment support.

We work with partners

Developing initiatives to engage and support healthcare professionals, and in particular GPs, on health and work issues.
Providing a national focus and cross-government profile for the health, work and wellbeing agenda.
Bringing partners together in working relationships at regional and local levels.

Current policy initiatives

Working for a healthier tomorrow – Carol Black’s Review

Working for a healthier tomorrow, Dame Carol Black’s review of the health of Britain’s working age population, the first of its kind, was published in March 2008. It set out the economic cost of working age ill-health, and delivered a far-reaching range of recommendations to reduce this cost.

Resources

Improving health and work: changing lives

Improving health and work: changing lives, published in November 2008, was the Government’s response to Dame Carol Black’s Review and set the direction of travel on the range of current initiatives.