On 23 September 2026, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Business and Trade and the Department of Health and Social Care published the September update to Keep Britain Working. The paper marks a shift from independent review to implementation, setting out how the programme now intends to test employer-led measures aimed at reducing health-related economic inactivity and building healthier, more inclusive workplaces. (gov.uk) The document is framed as a delivery update rather than a new statutory package. Its central proposition is that Britain has not previously had a joined-up workplace health system, and that earlier support, stronger retention and clearer accountability could improve labour market participation without a large new spending programme. (gov.uk)
According to the September update, around 2.8 million working-age people are economically inactive because of ill health or disability, roughly 800,000 more than in 2019. Keep Britain Working estimates the annual economic cost at about £212 billion, combining lost output, higher health-related benefit spending, additional NHS costs and lost output from unpaid carers. (gov.uk) The report’s policy case rests heavily on timing. Around 300,000 people with a health condition leave work each year, while the chance of returning falls sharply as absence lengthens: the paper says someone absent for four to six weeks has a 96 per cent chance of returning, but after a year fewer than half do. For officials and employers alike, the practical emphasis is therefore on prevention and retention before someone leaves work altogether. (gov.uk)
The proposed model has three linked parts: better and more inclusive workplaces, more coherent workplace health provision, and stronger intelligence on workplace health and inclusion. The paper assigns roles across employers, employees, providers, local places and central government, with ministers expected to set the framework, remove barriers to access and align incentives over time. (gov.uk) For implementation purposes, the most important shift is structural. The update does not treat health-related inactivity purely as a welfare issue; it treats it as a system-design problem spanning employment practice, public health, local delivery and economic policy. That matters because it places operational responsibility on employer practice as well as on public services. (gov.uk)
On workplace practice, the British Standards Institution is working with the programme to develop a new employer-facing standard. The draft framework asks employers to treat workforce health as a leadership and work-design issue, make it safer to raise concerns, respond quickly to adjustment needs, and use practical stay-in-work and return-to-work planning rather than relying on ad hoc absence management alone. (gov.uk) The update also sets out test commitments for Vanguard employers. These include offering a work and health conversation within eight weeks of joining, holding a conversation within five working days of an issue being raised, making contact by day three of an absence, and measuring sustained return at six months rather than treating day-one attendance as success. The paper is explicit that these are examples being tested rather than final universal rules, and that employee engagement in the model is not a condition of sick pay or of access to support. (gov.uk)
Where line management and human resources are not enough, the programme proposes a new model of Workplace Health Provision. The core idea is access to a trusted, impartial co-ordinator or case manager who can help translate between employee and employer, connect clinical and non-clinical support, and keep stay-in-work or return-to-work plans moving. The model also includes advice, early treatment for common work-limiting conditions and feedback to employers on recurring barriers. (gov.uk) For smaller firms, affordability is treated as a policy condition rather than a side issue. The September update says the model will be tested against likely costs and that access routes for SMEs and microbusinesses may include pooled purchasing, insurance routes, WorkWell centres and supply-chain arrangements led by larger employers. (gov.uk)
Measurement is the other major reform strand. The report argues that most employers cannot reliably compare sickness absence, disability participation or six-month return-to-work performance with peers, and that ministers likewise lack a robust line of sight between funded interventions and actual participation outcomes. To address that gap, the next phase includes work on common metrics, employer benchmarking, a Work and Health Toolkit and a proposed Workplace Health Intelligence Unit with public reporting and multi-party governance. (gov.uk) The update links that data agenda directly to existing national schemes. It says ongoing work will inform future development of Disability Confident, Access to Work and mandatory reporting, with disability inclusion treated as a central outcome rather than a separate workstream. For departments and regulators, that signals possible changes in how employer performance will be evidenced and compared. (gov.uk)
Delivery is already being tested through a Vanguard model. The Department for Work and Pensions says 11 regional Vanguards, including nine mayoral strategic authorities, Cornwall Council and Worcestershire County Council, together with more than 200 Vanguard organisations, are now testing the approach across all four UK nations. Published examples include Liverpool City Region testing return-to-work plans, Hull’s Resilience Hub pooling occupational health access for SMEs, and South Yorkshire planning part-time independent case workers within businesses. (gov.uk) Over the next 12 months, the programme says it will complete and test the workplace framework, settle a minimum specification for Workplace Health Provision, develop the intelligence model, expand place-based testing and prepare a phased roll-out plan ahead of the 2027 Spending Review. For employers, local authorities and workforce policy teams, the immediate implication is practical: this is now a live implementation programme, and future participation, disability inclusion and return-to-work performance are likely to be judged against more standardised measures than at present. (gov.uk)