Keeping Britain working: from workforce challenge to opportunity
Kerry Williams, Head of One Aviva at Aviva, reflects on a recent discussion exploring the Keep Britain Working review and what it could mean for employers, workforce resilience and advisers.
Employers across the UK are facing a growing challenge. Rising levels of long-term sickness, workforce absence and economic inactivity are creating pressure on productivity, business resilience and ultimately growth.
These issues sit at the centre of the Government's Keep Britain Working review. Bringing together employers, providers and policymakers, the review seeks to understand why more people are leaving the workforce because of ill health and, more importantly, what can be done about it.
During a recent Protection Insights webinar, I was joined by Luke McCullough, Senior Public Policy Manager at Aviva, Matt Smith, Rehabilitation Manager for Group Income Protection, and Dr Suba M, Medical and Sustainability Director at Aviva Health, to explore the findings and what they mean for employers and advisers.
While the review contains a clear call for change, the conversation left me with an overwhelming sense of opportunity.
The cost of doing nothing is growing
The starting point for the discussion was the scale of the challenge.
As Luke McCullough explained:
There are 2.8 million working people in the UK who are out of the workplace due to ill health, and that's 800,000 more than in 2019.
Luke McCullough, Senior Public Policy Manager at Aviva
The consequences extend far beyond workforce statistics. Employers are managing rising absence costs, employees face impacts on income and wellbeing, and pressure continues to build across public services.
As Luke observed:
Economic inactivity is not just a labour market problem. It undermines individual lives, business resilience and public finances.
Luke McCullough, Senior Public Policy Manager at Aviva
For advisers, these aren't distant policy discussions. They are challenges many client organisations are already experiencing.
The good news? We know what works
One of the most encouraging messages from the panel was that solutions already exist.
Matt Smith shared how demand for rehabilitation support has evolved in recent years.
"Since 2018, the number of new rehabilitation cases we've seen in the Group Income Protection team has almost doubled in volume."
Mental health remains a significant contributor to long-term absence, particularly among younger employees. Yet Matt's experience also demonstrates the value of acting early.
"Last year, when we provided our early intervention rehabilitation support for people with mental health challenges, over 90% managed to return to work."
That finding reflects one of the strongest themes running throughout the review: prevention and early intervention deliver better outcomes than waiting until problems become entrenched.
For employers, this means shifting focus from managing absence to supporting health and wellbeing before employees reach crisis point.
A different way of thinking about workplace health
Perhaps the most thought-provoking part of the discussion centred on culture.
The review repeatedly challenges organisations to move away from a purely reactive approach to workforce health. Dr Suba M highlighted one phrase that stood out for her throughout the report:
The report mentions rehumanising the workplace.
Dr Suba M, Medical and Sustainability Director at Aviva Health
Behind those words is a recognition that workplace health is not simply about products, services or policies. It's also about relationships, trust and creating environments where people feel able to seek support when they need it.
Suba expanded on this point:
"We really need to shift from that reactive and risk-averse approach to a person-centred, compassionate approach."
Matt's experience working with employers echoes this need for change.
"In some workplaces, absence management processes still focus on how to manage someone out of the business rather than thinking about what best practice looks like to help manage someone back into the business."
The review suggests that creating healthier workplaces is not solely the responsibility of healthcare providers. Employers, managers, advisers and providers all have a role to play.
Building a healthier working lifecycle
One of the review's headline recommendations is the creation of a Healthy Working Lifecycle framework.
Rather than focusing on isolated interventions, the framework looks across the complete employee journey, from onboarding and prevention through to support during periods of illness and return to work.
As Suba explained:
"It looks at the entire lifecycle to understand what an individual goes through at work – from onboarding and prevention to staying at work, returning to work and redeployment."
Many advisers will recognise these principles already. Increasingly, clients are looking for joined-up support that brings together wellbeing, occupational health, employee benefits and rehabilitation services.
What's particularly interesting is that many of the building blocks identified in the review are already present within the group protection market.
As Matt noted:
"The workplace health provision model that Keep Britain Working is calling for now is exactly what the protection industry has been quietly evolving into over the past 20 years."
What does this mean for advisers?
Throughout our discussion, one question kept resurfacing: where do advisers fit into all of this?
The answer is throughout.
Employers are looking for help navigating increasingly complex workforce challenges. They want to understand where health risks exist within their workforce, whether their existing support is effective and what practical steps they can take to improve outcomes.
As the Healthy Working Lifecycle framework develops, advisers will be well placed to help clients assess current provision, identify gaps and build strategies that support both people and business performance.
Or, as Suba put it:
"Advisers are key to unlocking what that might look like."
A different way of thinking about workplace health
Perhaps the most thought-provoking part of the discussion centred on culture.
The review repeatedly challenges organisations to move away from a purely reactive approach to workforce health. Dr Suba M highlighted one phrase that stood out for her throughout the report:
If the answer to any of those questions is no, there may be an opportunity to improve employee outcomes, strengthen engagement and increase appreciation of workplace protection benefits.
Moving the conversation forward
The Keep Britain Working review paints a clear picture of the challenges facing employers. But it also offers a roadmap for change.
The most successful organisations are unlikely to be those waiting for policy to evolve. They will be the employers already looking at how they can strengthen prevention, improve access to support and create workplace cultures where people can thrive.
For advisers, this is an opportunity to lead more strategic conversations with clients.
Not simply about products or protection, but about workforce resilience, employee wellbeing and business performance.
Because if keeping Britain working is the ambition, helping employers create healthier, more supportive workplaces will be one of the most important conversations we can have.
AUTHOR
Kerry Williams
Head of One Aviva
Aviva
Webinar - Keeping Britain Working
A practical look at the Keep Britain Working report. See how economic, social and health trends are reshaping workforce challenges and where protection, rehab and early intervention can deliver the greatest impact for clients.