Four research projects aiming to reduce health-related economic inactivity and ill-health worklessness are get a £7m cash injection between them from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

The funding, via the NIHR’s Work and Health Research Initiative, comes as long-term sickness is now estimated to account for 30% of total inactivity.

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Reducing worklessness because of ill health is also a key target for the government, including as part of its Keep Britain Working review of workplace health.

The funding is “another substantial investment to boost work and health research” within the UK, said the NIHR, and followed £1.5m the institute invested during 2023 in 13 work and health research projects. The four projects the latest funding round will support are:

1) ‘WISHES: Workplace Intervention for Sustainable Health and Employment Support’. This is being led by Professor Adam Whitworth, professor of work, employment and organisation at the University of Strathclyde.

It is investigating whether job crafting can boost employment and health for workers in the UK, especially disabled workers. Job crafting happens when employees can reshape their jobs. It can involve changes to tasks, goals and relationships at work.

2) ‘SHINE: Supply chain Health INitiative Evaluation’. This project is being led by Professor Jo Yarker, managing partner at Affinity Health at Work, and Dr Vaughan Parsons, occupational health research manager at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

This study is looking at how health and wellbeing services (HWS) can help to prevent illnesses and provide support to help people remain at work, with a particular focus on how to expand access among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

It is recognising that three-quarters of SMEs operate within supply chains providing goods and services to large enterprise organisations.

The research is therefore investigating how offering support through these familiar and trusted supply chains could enhance accessibility and effectiveness of HWS for the SME workforce.

3) ‘Support2Work: Mental health as a determinant of work’. This project is being led by Professor Rowena Jacobs, from the Centre of Health Economics at the University of York but for Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.

This project aims to evaluate the impact of the national NHS Talking Therapies Employment Advisers Programme on mental health, work, inequalities, costs, and the economy (Support2Work).

Employment advisers of course work with therapists to help people start, stay in, or go back to work. The research will find out if advisers can improve mental health and the way people do their jobs, as well as investigating how they can decrease healthcare costs and help the economy.

4) ‘Creating Healthy Jobs’. The final of the four projects receiving new funding is being led by Professor Chris Warhurst, director of the Institute for Employment Research at the University of Warwick.

It is recognising that some jobs can result in workers having poor mental and physical health. This project has been developed in collaboration with a range of health organisations, business, trade unions and workers, organisations supporting vulnerable workers, and government departments and agencies.

The research will use this information to develop new ways of analysing and understanding the relationship between job quality and health.

Professor Lucy Chappell, chief scientific adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care and chief executive officer of the NIHR, said: “Investing in research to support employees to stay healthy and remain in work is crucial for the future of our economy. It has the potential to deliver substantial economic and social benefits for individuals, employers and wider society.”

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