Government plans to get long term sick back to work.

[Miley1967]

Does anyone have any information about how the Government are planning to get long term sick/ disabled back to work? I have read there is a paper being published/ announced this week. In my local area ( East Midlands) I have seen jobs advertised this week ( multiple jobs) for health and work coaches but employed through the NHS and based in Gp surgeries, so it does seem as though they are already taking steps to implement this.
Just a bit worried for some of my clients( I work in benefits advice work ) as to whether this is going to be pushed on them or if it's a scheme they will choose to be part of and just wondering what it is going to entail, will these coaches be working with employers who are genuinely going to be able to support this group of people into work?

The NHS can fix medical problems but they can't fix financial or social problems, those you need to fix yourself.

Yes uneconomic mean less/not profitable.

The minimum wage creates a tipping point for decisions. I used to be involved in global manufacturing business, in the process every so often something went wrong and created wastage. We noticed that some countries had very low level of wastage versus others. The reason ended up being that in the UK the cost of employing someone to rework the items was way more expensive than just making more so the bad ones were thrown away. In India the cost of reworking versus making new was low so they reworked everything. The wastage in India was massively lower. The profit from both was similar. The job exists in India it doesn't in the UK.

I'm into beekeeping. At £12 an hour it is a though decision as to whether I employee a beekeeper - there simply isn't enough money in it. Hence where there are very few employed beekeepers in the UK. If the pay was £6 it would be an easier decision. The consequence of not wanting to have people paid less than £12 an hour means that job doesn't exist.

It is a consequence of minimum wages that some job output doesn't create enough value to breakeven. So I think it does mean some jobs are worth less than minimum wage and these then no longer exist. That's not to say minimum wages are a bad thing.

I'm not talking about exploiting the poor. The problem is low skilled workers who would have done some of the jobs no longer have roles available.

When I post about reducing spending I'm considered to be right wing. When I post about the need to increase taxes I'm considered to be left wing.

It all comes down to the fundamental issue that most people want big government for services but small government for taxes. It just can't work.

You seem to forget that these mothers are claiming for their children.

Women already struggle to leave abusive men because of hardship. Let's not make that worse, hey?

Exactly how do you expect hospitals and surgeries to force people to attend?

You need really good computer skills and literacy for call centres. Tell me you've never worked in one without telling me you've never worked in one. Plus, the job is pressured and fast. I've got a STEM degree and can programme in four languages and got fired on my first day working in a call centre because I couldn't cope with the speed of it.

Tell me you've never been on benefits without telling me you've never been on benefits. I was kicked off ESA onto JSA after six months, despite no improvement to my condition.

i think we’re missing a trick by making it so difficult for 16 year olds to find work, so they can start building a work ethic

They are supposed to be at college, learning and building a work ethic through their coursework. Working Time Directives for 16 year olds exist because a) they aren't yet adults physically and shouldn't be working long hours for their health and b) they shouldn't work so many hours that it interferes with their college work. I remember A-level students missing classes because they were working: this is not conducive to good results.

I am horrified that you support your daughter's employer in breaking the law that is there to protect your daughter.

They will have childcare costs when they start working and these may consume to much of their wages that they are better off staying on benefits and not using childcare.

I did that and it didn't work because the jobs didn't exist or weren't compatible with the transport options I had. I remember getting refused a job because the bus wouldn't get me there in time for shift start.

COVID lockdowns drove a bulldozer through at-school learning, including at-school SEND support, so kids missed out on support they needed at critical developmental stages and their disabilities are manifesting worse than they otherwise would have done.

Plus medical advances mean now that children who would have died young (such as premature babies, children with cancer, etc) are living longer now

And, children who would previously have been institutionalised are now cared for in the family home, so their families now have to claim DLA when they previously wouldn't have needed to.

Horrified is a bit of a strong statement, it was a summer job, she wasn’t working 12 hours - 7 days a week, it wasn’t a work house. She is not A-level material, she learns from doing, always has. Anyway that job experience has just helped her bag a L3 apprenticeship as they have written a glowing reference. My point being there is so much red tape about employing 16 year olds that employers don’t bother as it gives them something else to think about. Experience in the work place will always be an advantage.

Making a few GP appointments for anxiety is far easier than working 40 hours a week in a factory, and the anxiety becomes real in the claimants mind, as the thought of 40 hours work a week is anxiety inducing compared to sitting at home for the same financial gain.

It really isn't. If you find a weird lump or bump, no one has a second thought about booking a GP appointment.
When you are feeling mentally unwell, it is so hard to make that to call. People are scared about what will happen... about the meds, worried they will get carted off to hospital, worried SS will be called if they have kids etc.

And I am off work for MH issues and I get nowhere near the same in benefits as someone working 40hrs on the minimum wage.

I'm talking about people who have learned how to play the system, those who make it difficult for those with genuine conditions

Funny how most people on MN claim to know people who are "playing" the system.

Not really when you look at the rocketing sickness stats

How does that prove people are taking the piss?

Ok then try doing that and see how far you get

Make fewer mistakes with the bookings? Make it easier for patients to cancel or rearrange appointments? Sometimes people don’t even know they have an appointment when letters are posted late or not at all.

Nail on the head re the admin and bureaucracy of employing youngsters- it’s why small firms and sole traders just don’t bother anymore.

Having recently signed off sick with stress, I can assure you that getting more than two weeks off is not easy, and that's with a current prescription for antidepressants and a history of suicide attempts, evidenced by hospital letters, on my GP records. GPs are far more reluctant to issue sick notes that the Daily Fail would have you believe.