The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has established a new Occupational Health (OH) Taskforce to improve access and uptake of OH in the workplace.
Currently only 28% of employers in Britain provide access to an OH service so the Taskforce is intended to improve employer awareness of the benefits of OH as well as reducing workplace absenteeism due to sickness and to stop people dropping out of the workforce.
The taskforce, headed up by Dame Carol Black, the former president of the Royal College of Physicians, will produce a voluntary OH framework for business, which is expected to be published in summer 2024. This will set out minimum levels of OH needed to stop sickness-related loss of jobs and help employers support workers returning to work after sick leave Further guidance for employers will be published in due course. Standards will be voluntary at first, but compulsory rules have not been ruled out.
This seems like a step in the right direction for retaining older employees in the workforce. The CIPD put together a report, 'Understanding older workers', which made a series of recommendations based on the key issues that employers and policy-makers should understand when considering how to recruit and retain older workers. Along with enhancing the flexible working offering and improving skills and training, a major issue was providing early and ongoing support for health and wellbeing. The CIPD report points out that more than half of workers have a long-term health condition by the time they reach 60. This highlights the importance of supporting the health of workers throughout their working lives, to maximise their changes of enjoying a healthy and active life as they get older.
