Fit for Work, good for business
A pilot scheme designed to get sick employees back to work quicker has been launched. *
The ‘Fit for Work’ Service Programme of Piloting will provide people on sick leave with a range of personalised support methods, from skills and employment advice to health and wellbeing services, with the aim of identifying what works best.
The scheme, which was launched by Work and Pensions Minister Lord McKenzie and Care Services Minister Phil Hope, is set to begin later this year.
Phil Hope said: "Good health for the workforce is good for business – every employer knows that. In the current economic climate it's even more important that we cut the £100 billion cost of worklessness caused by ill health.
"These pilots will help us test different ways of helping people back to work, so we can see what really works. I want local authorities, PCTs and other providers to put their innovative ideas behind these pilots, which can only have social and economic benefits for their areas."
Lord McKenzie said: "Everyone has the right to work and we want to design a fair system which supports people so they can work when they are able."
The Fit for Work pilots are part of the Government’s ‘Improving health and work: changing lives’ package of measures, created in response to Dame Carol Black’s groundbreaking report on the health of Britain’s working age population.
Health Secretary Alan Johnson said: “Sick leave costs an estimated £100 billion per year – but helping people stay in work doesn't just have an economic imperative, it has a moral and social one, too. Poor health can prevent people fulfilling their potential, leaving them more likely to slip into poverty and social exclusion. **
"That is why we have set out a comprehensive framework to help support employers and the NHS to encourage individuals back into the world of work as soon as possible."
Westfield Health has always recognised the importance of minimising absenteeism in the workplace.
According to the CIPD’s Absence Management Survey Report 2008, the main causes of both long and short-term absence among workers are stress, colds and flu, back pain and musculoskeletal injuries.
Westfield’s company-paid health cash plans offer cash benefits to cover the cost of everyday healthcare such as dental treatment and eye care, up to set limits.
The Foresight Healthcare Plan has been developed as an absence and risk management tool. It includes a therapy treatment benefit, which provides cash back towards the cost of physiotherapy, acupuncture, osteopathy and chiropractic treatment. A 24-hour counselling and advice line is also available, which enables employees to speak to a counsellor, lawyer or medical adviser at any time, in complete confidence.
The Foresight Plan also offers up to six face-to-face counselling sessions.
© Westfield Health Insurance 2012
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