FAQs

Spearheaded by the National Director for Health and Work, Health Work Wellbeing is a cross-government initiative supported by the Department for Work and Pensions, Health and Safety Executive, Department of Health, the Scottish Executive and Welsh Assembly Government to improve the health and wellbeing of working age people.

The focus of the strategy is on improving the health of the working age population, helping to prevent people from becoming sick and having to take time off work; and, where sickness does occur, helping to ensure that people can remain in or swiftly return to work, avoiding the slide onto state benefits.

It is about helping people to enter, remain in or return to work because that is the best thing for their health and wellbeing and is the best way of reducing poverty.

Working in partnership with employers, health professionals and others with a shared interest in this agenda, we are working to:

• Identify and promote good practice through case studies and awards.
• Educate, support and encourage stakeholders to help people make changes to the way they live and work.
• Drive change through policy development and educational campaigns.

Government departments and stakeholders with a shared interest in this area have worked together for some time. However, Health Work Wellbeing takes this joint-working to a new level - bringing together the various initiatives that have an impact on the health and wellbeing of working age people and ensuring that strategies are coordinated. Only by doing this will we achieve full success and make the most of our efforts and investment.

Notable achievements include:

• Dame Carol Black has published her review of the health of Britain’s working age population, “Working for a healthier tomorrow”
• Leaders of more than 30 healthcare professional bodies have signed a ground-breaking agreement to advise patients of the important role work plays in health.
• Commissioned Research to consider the wider business case and specifically the economic case for employers to invest in wellness programmes for their staff.

Please use our Contact form to contact us with general queries and comments related to Health Work Wellbeing. To share your story with us, use the Case Study form.

Professor Dame Carol Black is the Government's first ever National Director for Health and Work. She is one of the country's top doctors with an international reputation. Carol is immediate past-president of the Royal College of Physicians and is also the Chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.

As National Director, Carol's role is to act as a champion for Health Work Wellbeing, advising the Government and driving the agenda forward. An important part of her role is engaging stakeholders to raise awareness of the importance of work to health and to change perceptions and behaviour.

Carol's Review will be crucial to helping us understand the impact of ill health in working age people, how best we can tackle it and how we can support people to stay in work. It will help steer the Government's strategy for the coming years.