An occupational health adviser
New changes planned to the benefits system will mean hardship and worsening health for many. The government intends to change the way ‘fit notes’ are issued. Its ‘WorkWell’ scheme will be brought in across the country from November.
When someone is unfit for work longer than seven days they need to be certified unfit for work with a ‘fit note’ to get sick pay.
Labour’s Health Secretary Wes Streeting says, with WorkWell, GPs can refer patients directly to job coaches, physiotherapists, and mental health specialists “to tackle the underlying issues that keep people out of work – like debt, housing, or physical health – rather than just treating the symptoms.” That sounds good, but Labour isn’t building council houses or lifting people out of debt and poverty.
There’s nothing to stop GPs making these referrals now – except for the desperate shortage of physiotherapists and mental health services after years of cutbacks! The Chartered Society of Physiotherapists union recently surveyed its members. 8 in 10 reported NHS services had insufficient staff and widespread recruitment freezes.
Mental health services are also severely understaffed. Years of low pay, poor working conditions and unsafe workloads mean many trained health professionals leave the NHS, burnt out and often with their own health problems.
Labour’s plans will lead to outsourced physio and mental health services, swallowed up in time by big profit-seeking companies.
Job coaches could play a valuable role helping people with long-term health problems find and retain good work – if such jobs were there. Identifying work adjustments needed and helping ensure employers provide them would be a real help. But if there aren’t suitable jobs and employers won’t make adjustments, sick or disabled people will get forced into unsuitable employment, making their health worse.
Big companies like Atos and Serco have profited from carrying out medical assessments of benefit claimants. There’s every chance Labour will repeat this with WorkWell.
If Labour wanted to help disabled people into work, or keep their jobs, they wouldn’t have frozen Access to Work’s cap on grants for two years – a real-terms cut. They would immediately inject funds to end its waiting list, up 4,000 to 66,000 people. Applicants are told they may wait up to 37 weeks just for a decision. Self-employed people may wait more than a year.
While employers aim to make profits, or in the public sector are squeezed by continuing austerity, workers with disabilities and illness will remain vulnerable to bullying management. Labour’s plans are for the bosses’ benefit. Unions must fight for workers’ control over working conditions, with flexible hours, safe workplaces and, for those who need them, disability adjustments.
