Legal spotlight

RECENT STATISTICS from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that the number of workers reported to be suffering from work-related illness remain stubbornly high.  Approximately 1.9 million people reported suffering from work-related illnesses in 2024.  This marks a disappointing uptick in work-related ill health reports, which had reduced slightly from 1.8 million in 2022 to 1.7 million in 2023.  Work-related stress, depression and anxiety appear to be the main driver of this increase.  Despite marginal improvement last year, the number of workers reporting experiencing stress, depression or anxiety due to work-related factors rose from 776,000 in 2023 to 964,000 in 2024.

The HSE’s statistics followed shortly after publication of the results of Sir Charles Mayfield’s government commissioned independent review on workplace ill health.  Mayfield was tasked with investigating “how government and businesses can work together to support ill and disabled people into work, boost living standards and grow the economy”, including recommendations on what more employers can do to tackle this issue.  The review was also asked what the government should do to encourage and support people living with ill-health and disabled people in work. 

Employers had already been identified as playing a key role in preventing workplace ill health and improving outcomes. However, Mayfield’s report goes further, placing them “in the lead”.  Mayfield’s report states that: 

“Employers are uniquely placed to ‘do’ prevention – by encouraging safe and early conversations about emerging health issues, making reasonable adjustments, supporting people swiftly, and offering flexibility for treatment and phased returns. They can act on prevention in ways the NHS can never do alone. Many already try, spending significantly but too often against a system that feels fragmented and unsupportive.” 

The report calls for a “system-wide change” with “a fundamental shift from a model where health at work is largely left to the individual and the NHS, to one where it becomes a shared responsibility between employers, employees and health services”. 

The focus should be on prevention, early intervention, and support for employees, with incentives for employers who engage in the process. The government is called upon to play its part in driving improvements with “shared responsibility” delivering “the best outcomes”.  The report states that “government must deploy a full range of targeted incentives – from procurement, rebates and the tax system, through to reforms to welfare and dispute resolution – to drive and sustain change”.

A three phased delivery plan is proposed, with the initial three years focussed on the government working with employers, providers and leadership groups to understand key issues around workplace ill health and to develop and formalise an outcome focussed framework of positive practices to address these, known as the healthy working lifecycle (HWL).  This collaboration will also feed into development of a workplace health provision (WHP). The WHP will be a non-clinical case management system which will build on existing provision, including occupational health. It aims to give employers and line managers support and advice, early intervention, good case management, and targeted early-stage treatment pathways. 

In response, the government has confirmed it is to partner with employers “to reshape how health issues and disabilities are managed in the workplace with the launch of employer-led Vanguards”. The Vanguards will develop and refine workplace health approaches over the next three years to build the evidence base for the HWL. The government has also confirmed it will work towards developing this into a voluntary certified standard by 2029. 

Tackling workplace ill health is both a regulator and political priority, with an increasing number of resources available to help employers fulfil their duties. However, employers cannot do it alone and while the potential for regulator action for failure may be persuasive, incentives for both employers and employees may well prove to be a better, and fairer, option. Whether the government will go down that route remains to be seen.

Kevin Bridges is a partner and head of health and safety at Pinsent Masons. For more information, visit www.pinsentmasons.com