Get a workplace health assessment to support an employee's health and disability

The government are piloting a subsidised Occupational Health Service for SMEs in Cumbria and Lancashire designed to stop employees "falling" out of work or to ease the process of getting people back.

Organisations in Lancashire and Cumbria are invited to take part in a trial of a new online service to get a workplace health assessment to support an employee's health and disability.

A report published earlier this year suggested that the number of people leaving the workforce due to long term sickness is at its highest since the 1990's.

The report from the Resolution Foundation claims that the number of adults currently recorded as economically inactive due to ill-health peaked at 2.8m in October 2023, and continues to rise.

For many working in the creative industries and the arts an acceptance of disproportional levels of stress and anxiety has sadly become the norm.

There is also growing evidence that the pandemic had increased the already high levels of stress-related health issues experienced by those working in the arts and related creative occupations.

In Lancashire, the arts and culture sector fell 26.5% during the pandemic, compared to a 24% fall in economic activity in the UK.

The continued and long-term impact of this is still felt across the sector nationally and in Lancashire.

As part of it's response the government are piloting a subsidised Occupational Health Service for SMEs in Lancashire and Cumbria designed to stop employees "falling" out of work or to ease the process of getting people back. This is part of the Government budget measures estimated to boost the labour force by 300,000 workers.

They'll pay up to 80% of costs for a business to engage a professional Occupational Health consultant to do this work with an employee, perhaps providing a more neutral, professional and bi-lateral approach than an employer having to deal with it themselves – a challenge for many organisations in the cultural and creative industries who lack scale or dedicated human resource capacity.

This is being trialled by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Get a workplace health assessment to support an employee's health and disability

The service aims to help SMEs with the costs of workplace health assessments for their employees.

Eligible SMEs can:

• get a code for an 80% discount on workplace health assessments for all employees
• search for a private sector workplace health provider to do the assessment

After the discount, an assessment will cost between £20 and £80. 

Benefits to your business 

Assessments help you understand how to support your employee’s health at work. This could help save you money in the future by: 

• reducing absences 
• increasing productivity 

Benefits to an employee  

An assessment can help an employee: 

• return to work 
• get expert advice  
• get any support they might need 

What is a workplace health assessment

If an employee is finding it difficult to work because of their health, they can get a workplace health assessment. This is also known as an occupational health assessment.

A workplace health assessment is different from a doctor’s report. It focuses on an employee’s work environment.

A health professional will talk to an employee about how their job might be affecting their health or how their health may be impacting their work.

After an assessment, you will get advice about free or funded support your employee needs to stay in, or return to work.

Eligibility

SMEs with 1 to 49 employees can use this service if you meet one of these conditions:

• your yearly turnover is £10.2 million or less
• your yearly balance sheet is £5.1 million or less

SMEs with 50 to 250 employees can use this service if you meet one of these conditions:

• your yearly turnover is £36 million or less
• your yearly balance sheet is £18 million or less

Join the trial

Organisations can check their eligibility and register to take part here.

You only need to share your email address and where your company is based at this stage. DWP will then send you further information about the scheme and how to apply. The application process takes between 3-5 minutes.     

Why DWP needs personal information and how we treat it

DWP needs personal information for the purpose of performing our functions as a government department. To find out more about how DWP use information and for what purposes, please visit the DWP Personal Information Charter