Greater Manchester to help thousands of residents to stay in work through pioneering new approach to reducing the risks of ill health

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham

Thousands of Greater Manchester residents whose health makes it hard for them to work will benefit through a ground-breaking new service launched today (Wednesday 20 March) by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and Greater Manchester Health & Social Care Partnership (GMHSCP).

Working Well Early Help is the first programme of its kind in the country. It brings doctors, employers, individuals and support services together in partnership to take early action to help residents with ill health at a crucial point when they are starting to be at risk of falling out of employment or newly out of work.

Backed by England’s largest ever NHS investment in local employment support, as well the European Social Fund, the £8 million scheme aims to change how health and employment services work together.

Adults of all ages across Greater Manchester who are experiencing poor health can receive up to six months of individually tailored advice and support from a dedicated caseworker to help them back to good work. This will typically include health, wellbeing and lifestyle advice; building of confidence and relevant skills and experience; and help to make changes at work or find suitable new employment.

It is estimated that 150,000 Greater Manchester residents are out of work due to their health – making up almost 2/3 of unemployed adults in the city region. For people aged 50 to 64 in particular, ill-health is the main barrier to work.

Early support, as offered by the new service, can be critical to people’s future prospects. Only one in five people get back to work after being off for six months, and after two years someone is more likely to die or retire than ever return to work.

Impacts of unemployment can include poorer general health, worsened mental health, increased likelihood of dying earlier, decreased physical activity and greater alcohol and tobacco consumption.

The new scheme will particularly benefit people working in, and running, small and medium sized enterprises. Such SMEs – which are estimated to make up over 99% of Greater Manchester’s businesses – are often unable to afford traditional occupational health services. Working Well Early Help aims to fill this gap.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: “Our new Working Well Early Help programme is another example of how we are doing things differently in Greater Manchester and is another step forward for our ground-breaking Working Well programme. This pioneering new programme will allow us to act quickly to support those at risk of losing their job due to ill-health. This will make a real difference and could transform the prospects of thousands of residents facing long-term unemployment because of their health." 

The Working Well Early Help service builds on Greater Manchester’s family of highly successful Working Well programmes, which has so far assisted more than 20,000 longer-term unemployed people with health conditions to move towards work.