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?

If the NHS dont diagnose you they dont have to cant treat you. I suspect a lot of this goes on to try and trim the waiting lists.

I think they should require time put into community service in return for benefits. There are so many jobs that we can't afford to fund but our towns and cities could look amazing if the time was put into gardening or cleaning, or running youth activities. There must be something anyone could do to contribute to society.

It's called "taxes"

As a society - rightly or wrongly - we've chosen to use "money" as a proxy for wealth. It's why we have to "buy" a house, rather than just building one on a piece of land we pick to live in with our tribe.

Here we go again. I wondered how long it would be before this new government would start coming after the sick and disabled. I have no issue with them weeding out the people playing the system,or getting benefits fraudulently,but I can guarantee that won't happen. They'll pick on the genuinely sick and disabled who don't have a chance in hell of actually getting a job,never mind holding one down. They spout all this crap about 'helping sick disabled people into work' and giving them support,but I know that won't happen. Sick and disabled people will be told to find work within a certain amount of time, and if they don't,their benefits will be stopped. Then they will probably end up dead. Which is ultimately what this government wants. A sure fire way to reduce the bulging benefits bill. And not only that,all the publicity surrounding this action will result in the usual demonising of people on sick/disabled benefits.

What about Labours New Deal for 18 - 24 year olds? That was very similar with the threat of losing benefits.

The thing is there are a limited amount of variations on this theme. The “stick” method cant be too extreme i.e. total and endless stopping of benefits. Plus you cant “force” people on employers. So it’s all empty threats. Yes , people do get sanctioned but not quite how this is being portrayed.

You cant use the same punishment for commiting a crime for just not having a job. Many will have the attitude "well ive done the punishment so now im going to commit the crime"

Prisoners seem to be worshipped by middle class do gooders unlike the unemployed and SH tenants oh and SAHMS

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5113913-to-think-prison-reform-wasnt-the-top-of-most-voters-agenda

Plenty of people who are on long term sick leave are simply matched to the wrong job. They might need a desk job instead of a physical job. They might need an employer who lets them work seated instead of standing. Perhaps they need a part-time schedule.

I could easily be one of them if I didn’t have my current job. I am able to be gainfully employed because my employer allows me to wfh almost exclusively and lets me have flexibility with my schedule. Without that I would have a hard time being employed. In exchange, they get extreme loyalty from me in addition to my skill set. I know how good my situation actually is and that the alternative could be extremely dire.

Prisoners seem to be worshipped by middle class do gooders unlike the unemployed and SH tenants oh and SAHMS

I think the issue is prisons and prisoners are an eye watering luxury that the UK is struggling to afford. It really is a matter of where you view things from.

The smoking ban in 2007 has cost everyone in the UK a significant amount of money. If you had been honest and asked people "are you willing to pay upwards of £100 a year every year to stop people smoking indoors" I wager you would have had howls of outrage.

A suggestion, would he consider CCTV security monitoring?
Customer services for practical tasks? Like help someone to do minor fixes to equipment, sort engineer visits if needed. I do contact daily plenty of people who gives me some indication of what to do or puts me in contact with the engineer and sorts a date.
It is not the same as doing the job yourself, but you can get a bit involved.
You need training, which is tge issue.
My DH has done the security one, because he is waiting for major surgery to be able to walk ok again......
It is really heart breaking and demoralising, to be honest.

But no smoking indoors and in front of children saves lives. Both the smoker and those around them, plus also drafts a better future for our children. The problem is that vaping has been allowed! Now, we will have to do it all over again.

This is one of the situations though where if the government are going to invest in people, improve employer knowledge, broaden skills training and employ staff specifically for the purpose of getting people back into work then it would be really helpful.

There are a huge range of office jobs, they don’t all require huge amounts of computer skills and lots of those that do provide that training. When we hire, everybody who is taken on receives training and guidance in all of the systems we use, nobody comes into the role with full working knowledge of our systems unless they’re internal staff, we don’t expect any applicants to have those skills beforehand.

Not being able to do the job you previously did isn’t the same thing as not being able to do any job and I suppose it’s those people I’d hope that this government push would focus on. Upskilling, training, providing guidance and working with people to find a good fit. There are of course people who are too unwell to work and (again I’d hope) none of these measures would be aimed at them, or penalise them, but there are people who can work, just not in their previous role, who just need some guidance and support to get back to something.

I imagine they feel that they have to address this because of the amount of tory and reform voters that have been hoodwinked into hating disabled people for decades. They can't just ignore people who claim benefits who could work. Can you imagine the size of the petition if they did that?

They need to appease the gammons so that's why they're making noise about this. At least there's some mention of actual help in there not just sanctions.

But no smoking indoors and in front of children saves lives. Both the smoker and those around them, plus also drafts a better future for our children.

Two things can be true at once.

There was a price for healthier children and longer living folk. And it's not impossible that had that price been honestly divulged, a shed load of non smokers would have suddenly said "Huh ? Why are we paying to discourage smoking ?"

What's his plan then?

He prefers a practical job but if he can't do it anymore, he's going to need to learn new skills in a different area. Wouldn't it be lovely if the government put some kind of support in place to enable him to do that?

@Dreammalildream I don't know
He's been applying for 18 months but the area he is in has something like 60% of people unemployed
He's broadened the area he's looking at but he also doesn't have a reference except a personal one (he lost his last job due to gross misconduct caused by addiction) has been sober for 2.5 years now

@MushMonster yes CCTV he could do, I will suggest that
He has applied for a drug and rehab centre so waiting to hear from that

Aw, we meet again Lol
I did not recognise your username.
I would pay if faced with the costs.
I will pay when the vaping one comes along, which should be today.
Health first, then the rest comes in easy.
I would not support a coffee ban, though, because that one is my addiction!

There are more young people off long term ill than older people. That does need to be sorted.

<deep bow>

I doubt the rest of the non smoking population would be so sanguine.

Generally we don't really want people living longer*. They cost a lot more in pensions and end of life healthcare.

A really decent subset of selfless folk who dropped dead before claiming a pension and £100,000 per person per year healthcare shouldn't be sniffed at.

*Well not the wrong sort.

Agree with this and I believe it’s largely down to mental health.

Services for support are honestly a bit of a joke. One of my best friends was taken to hospital by ambulance nearly 2 years ago after she tried to kill herself. She was discharged 24 hours later with a leaflet of “things to do to be happy” which literally included things like “have a hot coffee in the sun, go for a daily walk, get a pet, eat a nice meal”, and a referral for counselling. She finally reached the top of that waiting list and had her first session earlier this year, after 12 months.

It’s really not good enough, we need a system that can provide support quickly to prevent people reaching that breaking point.

Deep bow bacj

LOL we did have to pretend to treat them, no?
I think we will eventually get a termination letter. "You are done. Next month, the 10th, is your last day. Enjoy!"

We do. But we also need to understand why so many young people are off ill with mental health problems in the first place.

There's always one...

The poorest workers cannot afford savings or insurance. Even many salaried workers live paycheque to paycheque.

What happens if your benefits are sanctioned? How do you eat or pay your rent?

Are we going to have disabled people on the streets or starving to death?