A brand new authorities scheme aimed toward tackling long-term office illness has been dismissed by enterprise leaders and advisers as woefully insufficient, with critics warning it quantities to “emptying the ocean with a teaspoon”.
The initiative, introduced this morning by the Division for Work and Pensions, will fund occupational well being coaching for five,000 line managers working in small and medium-sized enterprises throughout England. The free coaching, delivered by the Establishment of Occupational Security and Well being, will run between January and March subsequent 12 months and is designed to assist managers spot early indicators of health-related points and intervene earlier than workers fall out of labor altogether.
Ministers say the scheme will assist handle what they describe as an inherited disaster, with greater than 2.8 million folks presently signed off as long-term sick — one of many highest charges within the G7. Authorities-commissioned evaluation has discovered that round 800,000 extra working-age adults are actually out of labor attributable to illness than in 2019.
The monetary value to small companies is important. Changing an worker misplaced to in poor health well being prices greater than £11,000 on common, whereas every day of illness absence is estimated to value corporations about £120 in misplaced revenue. The coaching will give attention to equipping line managers to recognise warning indicators corresponding to persistent fatigue, adjustments in behaviour and rising absence ranges, and to have extra supportive conversations about office changes.
The Minister for Employment, Dame Diana Johnson, mentioned the scheme would give small companies instruments they typically lack. “Too typically, small companies lose expert workers to well being points with out the instruments to assist them, and that doesn’t assist anybody,” she mentioned. “This free coaching provides line managers the arrogance to have the suitable conversations and make changes that would assist maintain folks in work.”
Nonetheless, consultants throughout information, HR, finance and advisory sectors questioned each the ambition and affect of the programme.
Rohit Parmar-Mistry, founding father of Burton-on-Trent-based Pattrn Information, mentioned the numbers merely didn’t add up. He argued that coaching 5,000 managers would make little distinction to an issue affecting tens of millions. “This seems like outsourcing the issue to already overworked SME managers,” he mentioned, warning that recognizing well being points earlier does nothing to repair persistent sickness, lengthy NHS ready lists or wider systemic failures. “A supervisor can recognise fatigue, however they will’t repair public healthcare or damaged work environments.”
Kate Underwood, founding father of Kate Underwood HR and Coaching, mentioned the initiative addressed solely a part of the issue. Whereas she welcomed efforts to enhance managers’ confidence in having tough conversations, she warned that the actual stress on small corporations got here from the price of illness absence, the complexity of affordable changes and delays in accessing occupational well being recommendation. “Coaching helps, nevertheless it doesn’t take away the monetary and authorized pressure that sinks small groups,” she mentioned.
From a wellbeing perspective, Sarah Gatford, founding father of Sarah Gatford Ltd, mentioned the success of the scheme would rely upon whether or not it went past compliance. She argued that real progress required managers to construct belief and psychological security, not merely comply with checklists. “If this helps managers ask ‘How can I assist?’ as an alternative of ‘When will you be again?’, it’s a begin, however 5,000 managers throughout the complete SME sector continues to be a drop within the ocean,” she mentioned.
Others have been extra blunt. Riz Malik, director of R3 Wealth, described the initiative as disconnected from the actual priorities of small companies. “This in all probability isn’t on the highest 100 record of issues SMEs need from authorities going into 2026,” he mentioned, calling it one other instance of policymaking divorced from business actuality.
Scott Gallacher, director at Rowley Turton, mentioned the funding stage uncovered the hole between political messaging and operational actuality. He famous that just about 80% of SMEs present no occupational well being coaching in any respect, throughout an economic system with roughly 5.7 million small companies. “While you break the numbers down, this equates to pennies per individual off work,” he mentioned. “That implies that is extra about optics than affect.”
Whereas ministers insist the scheme is a primary step in the direction of protecting extra folks in work, critics argue that with out deeper funding in healthcare, office flexibility and sustainable job design, the initiative dangers changing into one other well-intentioned coverage that fails to shift the underlying downside.
