‘Getting Britain Working’ cannot be done without getting Britain learning
This White Paper comes at a time when the UK is the only major economy that has seen its employment rate fall over the last five years—largely driven by a significant rise in the number of people out of work due to long-term ill health with an outdated employment support system which is ill equipped to respond to this growing challenge.
Figures show almost one and a half million people are unemployed, over nine million people are inactive, a record 2.8 million people are out of work due to long-term sickness. Young people have also been left behind with one in eight young people not in education, employment or training, and nine million adults lack the essential skills they need to get on in work.
techUK welcomes the government concentrating on ways to support young people and those with long-term health conditions. This strategy is a great step toward tackling unemployment, but the UK needs to enhance individual employability by focusing on lifelong learning and combatting skills barriers, to enable long-term economic growth. To access opportunity across the country, both skills and health support is needed.
Backed by £240 million of investment, the government is committing to:
Fixing the NHS and Tackling economic inactivity caused by ill health
Government is providing an additional £22.6 billion of resource spending in 2025-26 for the Department of Health and Social Care. This will support the NHS in England to deliver an additional 40,000 elective appointments a week and make progress towards the commitment that patients should expect to wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment.
Creating a new National Jobs and Careers Service to help people into work
Jobcentres across Great Britain will be overhauled and in England will be brought together with the National Careers Service. This will be kickstarted by £55million of investment, to help people get into work, stay in work, build skills and progress in their career.
Delivering a Youth Guarantee to support young people into work
Every 18-to-21-year old in England will have access to an apprenticeship, quality training and education opportunities or help to find a job under a new ‘Youth Guarantee’. Eight youth “trailblazer” areas will be set up across the country, including in Liverpool, Tees Valley and the East Midlands with £45 million funding to identify those most at risk of falling out of education or employment and match them to opportunities for education, training or work.
Empowering local mayors to shape an effective work, health and skills offer for local people
By giving local areas the power and money to design their own Get Britain Working plans, government will deliver employment opportunities for people who know their communities best. Up to £15 million will be made available to support local areas across England to develop their own plans and to support the trailblazers.
Launch an independent review into the role of UK employers in promoting health and inclusive workplaces
Government will launch a review that will consider what more can be done to enable employers to increase the recruitment and retention of disabled people and those with a health condition and undertake early intervention for sickness absence and increase returns to work. The review will run until next summer and involve wide-ranging engagement with employers, employees, trade unions, health experts, and disabled people and those with health conditions. It will complement the government’s Employment Right’s Bill, which will tackle job insecurity and expand flexible working.
Get involved in techUK's policy work for the new government as we explore approaches to lifelong learning, apprenticeships, and creating an AI-ready education system.
Authors
Nimmi Patel
Nimmi works on all things skills, education, and future of work policy, focusing on upskilling and retraining. Nimmi is also an Advisory Board member of Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (digit). The Centre research aims to increase understanding of how digital technologies are changing work and the implications for employers, workers, job seekers and governments.
