South Yorkshire kicks off £125 million plans to get Britain back to health and work

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has unveiled the first of nine trailblazer programmes in Barnsley to get Britain back to health and back to work, nine months on from her landmark speech on employment reforms in the same town.

South Yorkshire is one of nine £125 million backed ‘inactivity trailblazers’ across the country to launch, with the aim of helping areas with the highest levels of economic inactivity as part of the wider Plan for Change. 

Backed by £18 million, South Yorkshire plans a dedicated new service working with employers to hire those with health conditions, and a new “triage” system to make it quicker and easier to connect people to employment, health, and skills support. 

This work will include preventing people falling out of work completely due to ill health through an NHS programme, working with people with conditions ranging from cardiovascular disease to diabetes. This could include arranging voluntary work as a stepping stone to paid employment or helping people receive the right treatment early so they can remain in a job. Similar NHS programmes have also kicked off this week in the North East and West Yorkshire. 

South Yorkshire has already had success in tailoring support to meet the needs of local people, including:

• Gerald who spent years working in the coal mining industry. With the help of South Yorkshire, he’s developing his digital skills and first aid abilities so he can continue to share his knowledge with others through volunteering. 
• Ruby who has a learning and physical disability. She was told she would never walk or work, but South Yorkshire worked with local employer Barnsley Norse, who provide cleaning and caretaking services, to create a bespoke role with amended duties, including shorter shifts so she could build stamina and confidence. 
• John, who has improved his prospects through engagement with South Yorkshire, working towards a qualification in English and Maths. He is volunteering with Barnsley Museums and now has paid employment with Age UK, and two relief positions with the Museums service. 

Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall MP said: 

For too long, whole areas of the UK have been written off and deprived of investment. We are turning the tide on this – as we believe in the potential of every single person across our country and that they deserve to benefit from the security and dignity that good work affords.

This is why we’re investing £125 million into nine local areas to get Britain back to health and back to work – with our new approach making it quicker and easier for people to access the support they need to stay in work if they have a health condition or return to work.

South Yorkshire is the first to kick off their innovative plans – backed by £18 million – and we will be launching more areas in the coming weeks as we put more money in people’s pockets, boost living standards and Get Britain Working under our Plan for Change.

South Yorkshire Mayor, Oliver Coppard said:

We know that South Yorkshire’s industrial past has left a legacy of poor health and low skills that holds people back right across our communities; holding people back from accessing good work, making the most of their potential or living their fullest lives. 

That’s why we developed the pioneering Pathways to Work approach here in Barnsley, and why we’re now working with the Government to roll that programme out across the whole of South Yorkshire. From today people will receive tailored support, bringing together the health system, the skills and employment system, to truly help people back into decent work. 

I’m really pleased that South Yorkshire is now leading with the first inactivity trailblazer and NHS growth accelerator to launch in the UK, because it means we can help people more quickly and more effectively, and in a more tailored way. That’s not just the right thing to do for those people locked out of finding good work, it’s the right thing for our economy too, helping us to create the bigger and better economy we need and deserve here in our region.

Minister for Public Health and Prevention, Ashley Dalton MP added:

Poor health is holding back too many people across the country, keeping them languishing on waiting lists when they could be getting back to their jobs and lives. Innovative services like these are critical to tackling economic inactivity.

This support will get people working again, which is vital because we know being in work leads to better overall heath and helps grow the economy. 

Though the Plan for Change we will make people healthier, reduce pressure on the NHS, all while helping them into fulfilling and rewarding careers.

The trailblazer programmes, which have been designed largely by civil servants based in Sheffield working with Mayoral Combined Authorities, are part of the Government’s wider efforts to reach an 80 per cent employment rate, which includes a record £1 billion investment in helping disabled people and those with long-term health conditions who can work into work and an overhaul of Jobcentres to make sure they meet the needs of employers.

Through their new initiatives, South Yorkshire aims to reduce inactivity from 25.5% in 2023 to under 20% by the end of 2029 – equivalent to helping 40,000 people across the area. Their trailblazer has been shaped by Barnsley’s Pathways to Work Commission – a landmark report that heard directly from local residents who have experienced barriers to accessing work.  

Once a crucible of the industrial revolution from steelmaking to coal mining, South Yorkshire has felt the full brunt of the industrial slump – and denied the investment and opportunity to thrive, with many people suffering from long-term health conditions. 

This new funding will help unlock the potential of the hardworking people across the region and help them get back to health and back to work. This is central to the government’s drive to deliver growth across the region – and will work alongside the 10-year Sheffield Growth Plan.

South Yorkshire marks one of nine inactivity trailblazers going live across England and Wales. In the coming weeks, similar schemes will launch in: Greater Manchester, North East, York and North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Wales; and three in London (West London, South London and Local London). 

In addition, eight youth trailblazer areas will also be set up across mayoral authorities in England with £45 million funding in the coming weeks, to ensure all 18–21-year-olds have access to education, training, and employment opportunities.  

The government has published local Get Britain Working Plan guidance for Local Government and stakeholders across England to develop a coordinated approach to supporting people into and remaining in good work. 

As part of a drive to show transparency and track delivery, the Government is also publishing Get Britain Working outcome metrics, based on analysis of the ONS’ Labour Force Survey data.

Further Information

• With 230,000 economically inactive people in South Yorkshire, £10 million of the investment will go towards helping people who have been inactive for less than two years, as well as those with long-term health conditions, in Barnsley, Doncaster, Sheffield and Rotherham.  
• The remaining £8 million will fund the NHS Accelerator programme. This is the first time that the NHS in England will have responsibility for work as well as health outcomes, with similar schemes rolling out in West Yorkshire and the North East. They will also improve access to Talking Therapies, which provides treatment such as cognitive behavioural therapy to adults. 
• Both programmes aim to work with a total of 7,800 people and help up to 3,000 of those into jobs or to stay in work in the first year. 
• Sheffield’s Growth Plan is a 10-year plan to grow the economy, giving local people higher living standards and more opportunities. The South Yorkshire inactivity trailblazer represents that this government is focusing investment on places still experiencing the consequences of the past.
• The nine inactivity trailblazers, backed by £125 million of UK Government funding, is giving power to the Welsh Government and some Mayoral Authorities to design joined up work, health and skills offers.
• Funding for Scotland and Northern Ireland has been devolved in the usual way.
• The Get Britain Working metrics have been published: Get Britain Working outcomes – GOV.UK
• The measures have been built based on analysis of the ONS’ Labour Force Survey data and segment out health related inactivity, regional variations in employment rates and the disability employment rate gap.
• The local Get Britain Working Plan guidance has been published: Guidance for Developing local Get Britain Working plans (England) – GOV.UK
• The guidance will ensure all areas are working towards the government’s 80% employment ambition. 
• The eight youth trailblazers will be in: Liverpool, West Midlands, Tees Valley, East Midlands, West of England, and Cambridgeshire & Peterborough and two in London
• Employment support measures are fully transferred to Northern Ireland. Jobcentre Plus services is reserved in both Scotland and Wales, but the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government also deliver other forms of employment support. The funding announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper is UK wide, the share of funding for devolved Governments will be calculated in the usual way.
• The UK Government also plans to establish new governance arrangements with the Scottish and Welsh Governments to help frame discussions around the reform of Jobcentres and agree how best to work in partnership on shared employment ambition across devolved and reserved provision.
• The announcement of the first inactivity trailblazer comes as the Government and National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) invests £7.4 million in four research projects across the UK to help reduce health-related economic inactivity.