What Does the New Government Paper on 'Work, Health and Disability' Mean For Employers?

"Less than half (47%) of disabled people are in employment compared to 80% of the non-disabled population".

The government has sought employers' views as to how to reduce this disparity and is currently analysing the feedback from the consultation before publishing its findings.

The green paper set out a number of proposed solutions and asked for views from employers, disabled people and their carers, specialist disability groups and healthcare providers on whether the government is providing the right level of care and support to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

The paper identified that the main issue is to remove the barriers that are currently preventing those with disabilities and long-term health issues from fulfilling their potential in relation to their career ambitions. It is recognised that being in work and good health often go hand in hand.

What is the employer's role?

The green paper has a strong focus on the role of employers in supporting disabled people and people with health conditions into work. It looks at how a shift in workplace attitudes might be achieved in order to remove some of the stigma and discrimination in relation to disability and health issues. The paper also looks at the actions that employers can take to prevent employees being ill in the first place, to actively promote positive health and wellbeing, to manage long term sickness absence and to support an employee back into work.

Views were sought on a number of areas, including:

• What are the key barriers preventing employers and sectors recruiting and retaining the talent of disabled people and people with health conditions?
• Should Statutory Sick Pay be reformed so that it better encourages a phased return to work?
• How can existing government support be reformed to better support the recruitment and retention of disabled people and people with health conditions?
• What role should the insurance sector play in supporting the recruitment and retention of disabled people and people with health conditions?

Best Practice

Although the green paper itself is some 95 pages, chapter four on 'Supporting employers to recruit with confidence and create healthy workplaces' is the most relevant for employers. Employers should consider whether there is any action they could be taking to address the gap in employment, for example:

• encouraging employees to disclose health problems and disabilities
• considering offering health insurance products, such as medical insurance, critical illness or life assurance cover, as a benefit of employment
• having more contact with employees during a period of sickness absence
• taking action to prevent or manage ill health

It will be interesting to see the responses to this consultation and whether in time we will see a change whereby employers are required to auto-enrol employees into health insurance schemes, similar to the recent changes for pensions.

For more information, please contact Jenny Marley in our Employment team on 0117 314 5378.