Rehabilitation
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has launched an initiative to help people who become ill stay in work, preventing them having to leave employment early.
The initiative - Building capacity for work: A UK framework for vocational rehabilitation - was launched by Minister for Work, Jane Kennedy, at the National Employment and Health Innovations Network.
Kennedy outlined the proposals, which will see measures taken to include setting up a research working group and developing new guidance in recognition that many stakeholders are already committed to vocational rehabilitation.
"We are embarking on a new approach to helping people who have developed a health condition, impairment or injury to maintain their employment rather than facing enforced withdrawal from the workplace," Kennedy commented.
"Absence management is a critically important issue for many businesses and in the context of employers' liability compulsory insurance, more could be done to minimise the effects of illness caused by work activities," she added.
The Confederation of British Industry estimated that the overall cost of sickness absence to the economy was £11bn in 2002. The Government hopes that the framework will demonstrate their commitment to provide direction and leadership in vocational rehabilitation.
"The framework will initially focus on how to help people in work maintain their jobs. In the longer term, we will work to develop a new approach to vocational rehabilitation by offering appropriate help to access and return to work," said
