Since 2020, the UK has seen a key driver in GDP growth – its workforce – shift abruptly into reverse due to health-related inactivity. So why is the UK government referring to this surge of sickness absence not as a catastrophe, but a potential opportunity for UK employers?
This is the primary argument of the September 2026 Keep Britain Working: A National Growth Opportunity report. With 2.8 million working-age people not working due to ill health dealing a £212 billion a year blow to the UK economy, the report’s authors believe there is no choice but for employers to meet this challenge head-on. Such is the potential upside; any organisation not seizing the opportunity risks letting their competitors gain an advantage.
To fully grasp the potential, let’s rethink the previous statistic. If merely 1% of the 2.8 million non-workers were brought back into the fold, that increases the UK workforce by 330,000 – roughly a city the size of Cardiff! – without any additional infrastructure costs.
The Review's proposed employer framework calls for UK employers to prioritise prevention when addressing workplace health, creating an environment where employees feel safe raising concerns and where managers can discuss the impact of health on work without attempting to diagnose the underlying condition. It also emphasises building visible routes to support and prioritising timely adjustments to help employees return to and remain at work.
Managers are not healthcare experts; their conversations should focus on work first, not diagnosis.
A manager does not need to know what condition an employee has, what medication they take or the details of their treatment. Their immediate priority is to understand any barriers to employees completing their assigned duties and whether there is something practical the organisation can do to address them.
Typical questions a manager might ask in this situation:
These questions create space for the employee to explain what they need without requiring them to disclose information that is not relevant to the workplace.
This is an important distinction. The Keep Britain Working guidelines explicitly state employees should not be expected to disclose unnecessary personal information or engage in a conversation when doing so would be detrimental to their health.
Managers should not diagnose a condition, determine what treatment an employee needs or decide what medical information is relevant. Their role is more practical: listen first, understand the current and/or potential impact on work, consider possible adjustments, explain the support available and agree on next steps.
This could mean involving HR, seeking occupational health advice, or connecting the employee with clinical or other specialist support.
The Review's proposed Workplace Health Provision model is designed around exactly this principle: a trusted, impartial coordinator can help employees and managers navigate more complex cases, connect different forms of support and monitor stay-in-work or return-to-work plans.
The lesson for employers is to make those escalation routes obvious before a manager needs them.
Historically, health benefits have been bought as perks to win and retain talent with little to no focus on outcomes. But it is difficult to retain talent if your workplace health programme does not provide a viable pathway for them to remain at work. Employers should seek to make support routes more visible so managers can move from an initial discussion to the right specialist input without trying to manage the issue themselves.
The Review calls for clearer routes to advice, treatment and case management, alongside timely adjustments and sustained return-to-work support. Their suggestions (currently undergoing testing) include a conversation within five working days of a health issue being raised, followed by a stay-in-work plan with clear actions, owners and review points.
For employers, the practical priority is to connect each stage in the workplace health process: a manager creates the opening, HR or occupational health provides guidance where needed, appropriate support is offered, and adjustments are reviewed and agreed upon.
The most useful response to the Keep Britain Working report is not creating another standalone wellbeing initiative. Rather, employers should strive to create a workplace where managers can spot when health conditions are beginning to affect work, employees feel safe raising concerns, and both parties understand which steps to take next.
This requires a fresh approach to how health benefits and occupational health are designed. They need to work together, not in isolation, and shift away from providing perks to delivering performance.
For HR and People leaders, the question is straightforward: If a manager notices tomorrow that an employee’s health is affecting their work, would they know how to start the conversation – and, more importantly, where to go from there?
If the answer is unclear, that is an operational gap worth addressing now.
Square Health’s integrated approach to workplace health helps employers connect occupational health, clinical support, employee assistance and wider workplace health services, giving managers and employees a clearer pathway from an initial conversation to practical support, adjustments and ongoing care.
If your organisation wants to make earlier workplace health conversations more useful and ensure there is a clear pathway to specialist support, contact us today.