The government published two employment strategies designed to help people with mental health conditions to stay in work. The first set out the government's overarching ambitions for mental health and employment. The second addressed the specific situation of people with severe mental health conditions. The strategies would involve the creation of new specialist mental health co-ordinators at Jobcentre Plus, and nine occupational health advice line pilots for small businesses. The government also published the report of an independent review that recommended action to improve employment support for people with a mental health condition.
Source: Working Our Way to Better Mental Health: A framework for action, Cm 7756, Department for Work and Pensions and Department of Health/TSO | Work, Recovery and Inclusion: Employment support for people in contact with secondary mental health services, Cabinet Office and other departments | Rachel Perkins, Paul Farmer and Paul Litchfield, Realising Ambitions: Better employment support for people with a mental health condition, Cm 7742, Department for Work and Pensions/TSO
Links: Strategy (1) | Strategy (2) | Review report | Hansard | Cabinet Office press release | DWP press release | Mind press release | Rethink press release | Sainsbury Centre press release | Turning Point press release | Sane press release | NHS Employers press release | Community Care report | Personnel Today report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Dec
Three linked reports presented the findings from qualitative research evaluating the 'Access to Work' programme (designed for people with long-term health conditions or impairments who need extra practical support to take up work or to do their job). There was low awareness of the scheme among customers, employers, and Jobcentre Plus staff. The assessment process was liked but was felt to favour those with stable conditions or who had physical disabilities. It was also considered by some to be influenced by budgetary considerations.
Source: Sara Dewson, Darcy Hill, Nigel Meager and Rebecca Willison, Evaluation of Access to Work: Core Evaluation, Research Report 619, Department for Work and Pensions | Jane Aston, Evaluation of Access to Work: Individual Budget Pilot Strand, Research Report 620, Department for Work and Pensions | Sara Dewson, Harriet Fearn and Ceri Williams, Evaluation of Access to Work: Ministerial Government Departments, Research Report 621, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report (1) | Summary (1) | Report (2) | Summary (2) | Report (3) | Summary (3) | DWP press release
Date: 2009-Dec
A paper examined inequalities in the pay of disabled people and those from selected minority ethno-religious groups. It considered whether pay gaps were a consequence of individual earning potential; whether they stemmed from the particular occupations or types of occupation that the minority groups were concentrated in; or whether they were largely unaccounted for. In the case of remaining unexplained gaps in pay, the paper explored how far they might provide evidence of employer discrimination.
Source: Lucinda Platt, Simonetta Longhi and Cheti Nicoletti, Decomposing Pay Gaps Across the Wage Distribution: Investigating inequalities of ethno-religious groups and disabled people, Working Paper 2009-31, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex
Links: Working paper | Abstract
Date: 2009-Dec
A paper examined the provision of training opportunities for disabled workers.
Source: Laura Fumagalli, Disability, Health and Access to Training, Employment Relations Occasional Paper, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (0870 150 2500)
Links: Paper
Date: 2009-Nov
A survey found that more than one-quarter of workers described their mental health as moderate or poor. 90 per cent of those suffering from poor mental health said that it affected their performance on the job.
Source: Employee Outlook: Working life in a recession – Autumn 2009, Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (020 8971 9000)
Links: Report | CIPD press release | Mind press release | Personnel Today report | People Management report
Date: 2009-Nov
An article set out a framework that reconciled the central importance of the level of labour demand in explaining worklessness with the paradoxical simultaneous rise of women's employment and receipt of disability benefits. Women claiming disability benefits were overwhelmingly located alongside male claimants in areas where heavy industry had declined, pointing towards linkages between the 'male' and 'female' sides of the labour market. Additionally, there might be raised knowledge and local acceptance of disability benefits in these locations.
Source: Christina Beatty, Steve Fothergill, Donald Houston, Ryan Powell and Paul Sissons, 'A gendered theory of employment, unemployment, and sickness', Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Volume 27 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Nov
An official advisory body published guidance for employers on promoting mental well-being through productive and healthy working conditions.
Source: Promoting Mental Wellbeing Through Productive and Healthy Working Conditions: Guidance for employers, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (0870 121 4194)
Links: Guidance | NIHCE press release | SCMH press release | ACAS press release | BBC report | People Management report | Community Care report
Date: 2009-Nov
A report presented findings from qualitative research into experiences of the early implementation of the Provider-led Pathways programme (delivered by private companies and not-for-profit third sector organizations as part of the Pathways to Work programme for incapacity benefit claimants).
Source: Katharine Nice, Jacqueline Davidson and Roy Sainsbury, Provider-Led Pathways: Experiences and views of early implementation, Research Report 595, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2009-Oct
Researchers examined the impact of the Pathways to Work programme (designed to support incapacity benefits customers in seeking work) on work, earnings, and self-reported health outcomes in the April 2006 expansion areas. The study did not find any statistically significant impact.
Source: Helen Bewley, Richard Dorsett and Sergio Salis, The Impact of Pathways to Work on Work, Earnings and Self-Reported Health in the April 2006 Expansion Areas, Research Report 601, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2009-Oct
The first official statistics were published for the 'work capability assessment' – the new test, introduced in 2008, that examined whether someone was fit for work or should go on to employment and support allowance. Of the 193, 800 people who made a claim for ESA between October 2008 and February 2009, 5 per cent were going into the support group, and would not be expected to undertake any work-related activity; 36 per cent were found fit for work and not eligible for ESA; 11 per cent were found eligible for ESA with work-related activity (such as regular advisor interviews) to help them prepare to return to work in the future; and the remaining 38 per cent either stopped claiming benefit before the assessment on them was completed or were still going through the assessment process.
Source: Employment Support Allowance: Work Capability Assessment Statistical Release (October 2009), Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Report | DWP press release | Community Care report | Guardian report | People Management report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2009-Oct
A report examined the experiences of disabled people holding senior management roles. Many of the respondents had significant, long-standing impairments. They identified mentoring and career-long support from senior managers as the factors that had enabled them to progress.
Source: Doing Seniority Differently: A study of high fliers living with ill-health, injury or disability – Interim report, RADAR (020 7250 3222)
Links: Report | Summary | RADAR press release
Date: 2009-Sep
A report said that individual placement and support schemes (IPS), designed to help people with severe or enduring mental health problems into paid competitive work, were effective and good value for money. Redirecting spending from less effective services to IPS would cost the National Health Service less money and give more people a better chance of fulfilling their potential through paid work.
Source: Commissioning What Works: The economic and financial case for supported employment, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (020 7827 8300)
Links: Report | SCMH press release
Date: 2009-Sep
The government announced that people with mental health problems would get extra support to help manage their condition so that they could remain in the workplace. It also announced that the first ever national strategy for mental health and employment would be published in autumn 2009.
Source: Press release 24 August 2009, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7712 2171)
Links: DWP press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Community Care report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2009-Aug
The Law Lords ruled that a worker suffering from a condition that would be 'likely' to create a substantial impairment without measures to treat or correct it met the legal definition of a disabled person.
Source: SCA Packaging Limited v Boyle, UKHL 37 (Session 2008-09), House of Lords Judicial Office (020 7219 3111)
Links: Text of judgement | Employers Forum on Disability press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2009-Jul
A report presented findings from a large-scale survey of longer-term claimants in the original seven Pathways to Work pilot areas. It described the profile of claimants, their experiences of involvement with Pathways to Work, their work, and other outcomes. It also presented specific analysis on the experiences of claimants aged over 50, and those customers with mental health conditions.
Source: Tanja Sejersen, Oliver Hayllar and Martin Wood, Pathways to Work: The Experiences of Longer Term Existing Customers – Findings from a survey of four to seven year incapacity benefits customers in the first seven pilot areas, Research Report 586, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2009-Jul
Researchers examined how the Pathways to Work programme might better meet the needs of claimants with mental health problems. Claimants' experiences were strongly influenced by experiences of the first work-focused interview: this induced feelings of anxiety and vulnerability in some clients, but for most was reassuring. The report highlighted several factors that helped claimants towards employment: individually tailored, long-term support and case management were important, because many people with mental health conditions took longer to return to employment.
Source: Maria Hudson, Kathryn Ray, Sandra Vegeris and Sheere Brooks, People with Mental Health Conditions and Pathways to Work, Research Report 593, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2009-Jul
A report presented findings from qualitative research to explore the views and experiences of participants in the 'Condition Management Programme' (new work-focused services for people with health conditions, developed through collaboration between Jobcentre Plus and local National Health Service providers).
Source: Martha Warrener, Jenny Graham and Sue Arthur, A Qualitative Study of the Customer Views and Experiences of the Condition Management Programme in Jobcentre Plus Pathways to Work, Research Report 582, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2009-Jun
The government published a cross-departmental strategy designed to close the gap between the employment rates of learning-disabled people and others.
Source: Valuing Employment Now: Real jobs for people with learning disabilities, Department of Health (08701 555455) and other departments
Links: Strategy | Delivery plan | Literature review | Hansard | DH press release | United Response press release | Mencap press release | EFD press release | Community Care report
Date: 2009-Jun
A report set out a set of key indicators for mental health and employment services. It called for these indicators to be used routinely so that service users and their families could see how well services were performing.
Source: Geoff Shepherd, Helen Lockett, Jenni Bacon and Bob Grove, Measuring What Matters: Key indicators for the development of evidence-based employment services, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (020 7827 8300)
Links: Report | SCMH press release
Date: 2009-Jun
A paper examined the impact of the Pathways to Work programme on those aged 18-24. There was some evidence to suggest that the programme was more effective in reducing incapacity benefit receipt among the under-25s than among those aged 25 or more.
Source: Helen Bewley and Richard Dorsett, The Impact of Pathways to Work on Benefit Receipt for the Under 25s, Working Paper 65, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2009-May
A paper examined whether it was possible to estimate the impact of the 'Choices' package (voluntary schemes intended to improve labour market readiness and opportunities) in the Pathways to Work programme. It highlighted the 'intrinsic difficulty' of evaluating programmes based on voluntary participation.
Source: Stuart Adam, Antoine Bozio and Carl Emmerson, Can We Estimate the Impact of the Choices Package in Pathways to Work?, Working Paper 60, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2009-Apr
An article examined the replacement of incapacity benefit by employment and support allowance (ESA) for new claimants from October 2008. The introduction of ESA was a good example of the retrenchment of benefits for the majority of sick and disabled people. The ESA could be interpreted as creating a group of disadvantaged people through which the private sector could profit.
Source: Linda Piggott and Chris Grover, 'Retrenching incapacity benefit: employment support allowance and paid work', Social Policy and Society, Volume 8 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Apr
A report presented findings from a qualitative research project designed to explore the development of a 'distance travelled' approach to WORKSTEP development planning. (WORKSTEP is a programme aimed at helping disabled people find and retain work. 'Distance travelled' means the progress made by disabled people towards open employment.)
Source: Ann Purvis, James Lowrey and Rebecca Law, Exploring a Distance Travelled Approach to WORKSTEP Development Planning, Research Report 566, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2009-Mar
A report said that people with severe mental health problems were much more likely to get and keep jobs if services used the most effective methods of supporting them into employment.
Source: Doing What Works: Individual placement and support into employment, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (020 7827 8300)
Links: Report | SCMH press release | Community Care report
Date: 2009-Feb
An article examined mental ill-health as a reason for claiming incapacity benefit. It highlighted the growing importance of problems caused by alcohol and drug abuse.
Source: Judith Brown et al., 'Mental health as a reason for claiming incapacity benefit – a comparison of national and local trends', Journal of Public Health, Volume 31 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Feb
A report said that people returning to work following absence due to a physical condition such as back pain, cancer, or heart disease were at risk of mild to moderate depression: yet those who did become depressed worried about telling their employers.
Source: Fehmidah Munir et al., Returning to Work: The Role of Depression, Mental Health Foundation (020 7803 1100)
Links: Report | Summary | MHF press release | Human Resources report
Date: 2009-Feb
A report presented findings from a qualitative research project carried out as part of a wider evaluation of the Pathways to Work programme. The study was conducted in 2007 and 2008 to explore referral practices and liaison among Jobcentre Plus staff and service providers involved in helping incapacity benefits recipients move towards, and into, paid employment. A separate paper presented a review of the research findings.
Source: Katharine Nice, Annie Irvine and Roy Sainsbury, Pathways to Work from Incapacity Benefits: A study of referral practices and liaison between Jobcentre Plus advisers and service providers, Research Report 555, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040) | Katharine Nice, Pathways to Work from Incapacity Benefits: A review of research findings on referral practices and liaison with service providers, Working Paper 57, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report | Summary | Working paper
Date: 2009-Jan
The European Court of Justice ruled that employees were entitled to accrue holiday pay while on sick leave, and could carry that leave over into another year if they were too ill to take it.
Source: Gerhard Schultz-Hoff v Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund, and Mrs C. Stringer and Others v Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, European Court of Justice (00 352 43031)
Links: Text of judgement | Personnel Today report | People Management report
Date: 2009-Jan