Weight-loss jabs could form part of Labour’s plan reduce the number of people out of work due to health conditions.
Unveiling its proposals to reform welfare and tackle economic inactivity and unemployment, the Government stressed the need for “early intervention” to prevent long-term sickness.
The long-awaited plan sets out wide-ranging proposals for healthcare and educational reforms as well as changes to welfare.
It proposes “scaling up and deepening the contribution of the NHS” in employment, with “a range of steps to tackle obesity”, including through trials.
The white paper, titled Get Britain Working, says a five-year study in Manchester involving weight loss jabs, with US pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly, is examining the impact obesity has on employment opportunities.
In the policy document, the Government adds: “The study will also improve the evidence base on non-clinical outcomes of weight loss, including the health economic impacts through potential reductions on health service usage and changes in participants’ employment status and sick days from work.”
Proposals also include increased access to mental health support, the Government’s existing bill to ban smoking, and increases to alcohol duty.
But the white paper also explicitly refers to obesity as being a considerable health challenge which is feeding into economic inactivity.
Ministers will “build on evidence” which showed bariatric surgery, for weight loss, is linked to “a sustained increase in employee pay and the probability of being in work”.
The document adds: “Obesity is a key risk factor for leading conditions driving health-related economic inactivity. The prevention of ill health is a clear priority for this Government, and we remain committed to tackling obesity.”
The white paper says ministers have already committed to cracking down on junk food ads and fast-food shops near schools.
It hints at further sugar taxes to reduce the number of people becoming overweight. The Government will “work with the sector to consider all levers to further encourage food and drink reformulation to help tackle obesity,” the white paper says.
Some £125m will be invested in eight areas across England and Wales “to mobilise local work, health and skills support”.
There will be extra funding in three areas – the North East, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire – to stop people falling out of work completely due to ill health.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said these regions, which faced deindustrialisation, were “the very same places that have lower life expectancy and chronic poor health”.
In the white paper, the Government says unhealthy lifestyles are playing a role, with people who smoke, drink alcohol at high levels or have a body mass index (BMI) above 40 more likely to be out of work.
Mental illness and musculoskeletal disorders (MSK) – which can often be linked to obesity – are the top reasons for out-of-work sickness, data shows.
The number of workers aged 16 to 34 who say mental ill health limits the work they can do has increased more than fourfold over the past decade, and mental health is now the leading work-limiting health condition among people aged 44 and younger, according to the Government.
MSK issues are the most common conditions affecting older working-age people who are economically inactive due to long-term sickness.
Christopher Rocks, lead economist for the Commission for Healthier Working Lives at the Health Foundation, said tackling “stark inequalities in work and health outcomes across the UK” would be “essential to get people working”.
“Strengthening local health and employment powers to enable communities to offer targeted support is a positive step,” he added.
“However, achieving real integration of employment, health, and local governance remains a challenging goal and must go hand in hand with sustained investment.”
What’s in the Get Britain Working white paper?
- Deploy extra NHS staff to the 20 areas of England where the highest number of people are out of work. Extra health workers would help clear NHS backlogs, with the aim of getting them back into work.
- Employ 8,500 new mental health staff. Expand access to a scheme aimed at helping people who are mentally unwell into employment. These steps are estimated to help 140,000 people by 2028/29.
- Launch £125m pilot scheme joining up health, work and skills support in “trailblazer” regions in the North East, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, with the aim of being rolled out across England and Wales.
- Overhaul job centres to create a new work and careers service. Job centre staff encouraged to move away from “tickbox” culture and offer personalised service to jobseekers. Trial new digital systems to free up their time.
- Give every 18 to 21-year-old in England access to an apprenticeship, training, or education, or help to find a job through the new “youth guarantee”. The Premier League, Channel 4 and the Royal Shakespeare Company are among partners who have signed up.
- Reform the apprenticeship levy – a tax on large employers – into a growth and skills levy, to help to fund more courses such as shorter apprenticeships and foundation level schemes.
- Offer regional mayors who are not getting access to pilot schemes £15m to help develop their own local plans to get people back into work.
- Launch independent review into what employers can do to help prevent people falling ill. It will look at how they can do more to recruit and keep disabled people and those with long-term heath conditions.
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