Greater Manchester partners including the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care partnership, are designing a new early intervention service aimed at small and medium sized businesses. The service will be for people with mental and physical health conditions, who are at risk of falling out of employment, or are newly unemployed. We want to involve businesses, particularly small and medium sized employers, in the design of this. 

Bury businesses have the opportunity to feed into the consultation on a new service to support businesses by offering early help to staff who are off sick or have long term health conditions. We’d like to encourage our local businesses to support and get involved with this consultation, to help ensure that any new service reflects and hopefully meets the needs of all our small and medium sized employers. Please note: The deadline for this consultation is 25^th September 2017.  

Does staff absence due to sickness and ill health affect your business productivity? Would you like to reduce the number of days lost to staff sickness?  

Why is this needed?

 Across Greater Manchester (GM) over half the working population (59%) have a long term health condition. There are also 236,400 people out of work and claiming benefits, and of these 64% are claiming as a result of a health condition.

The estimated annual cost of Statutory Sick pay to GM employers is estimated at £90 million and Occupational Sick pay is approaching £400million

There is currently no effective early intervention service to prevent people with health conditions falling out of work

99% of GM employers are either micro or small businesses with limited or no access to Occupational Health and Employee Health and Wellbeing support

Employers may lack awareness about legislation compliance and how to manage staff who are sick

The NHS struggles to respond rapidly to the needs of people in work

The current Fit note system can be ineffective both from a GP and employer perspective 

What is being planned? 

The new service will primarily be designed for GM residents who work for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) or who are self employed, and have no access to occupational health or employee health support. The proposed objectives for the new service are:- 

• Reduce the number of days lost to sickness absence for those in employment
• Prevent  GM residents with health conditions from leaving the labour market
• Support businesses to retain employees and better manage health in the workplace
• Reduce time spent by clinicians on non-clinical work in primary care
• Support newly unemployed people with health conditions to access an enhanced health support offer to facilitate and early return to work 
• Components of the new service may include: 
• Referrals in from a GP, the individual themselves, Job Centre or an employer
• A bio-psychosocial assessment, action planning and case management
• Condition management advice and self care
• Rapid access to Musculo skeletal or mental health support
• Occupational Health, HR and employment advice
• Facilitation of return to work between employer and employee
• Careers advice and job brokerage 

The new service will be funded through a mixed model of public service investment including NHS transformation Fund and European Social Funds and will test the service for approximately three years. 

How can you get involved? 

We need employers , particularly small business or start up employers to help us shape the new service. There is a cross GM  working group made up of Health professionals and other stakeholders who are working on developing a new model for Greater Manchester. There are several ways you can be involved:- 

Completing a short survey on your views on what currently happens in your business; what  is needed and what the new service could look like

Taking part in a  workshop  or events about the new service in your local area;

Joining a focus group of employers to review the design and development of the service

If you have any queries about the survey please contact Tracey Flynn or Amanda Huntbach, at Bury Council, on 0161 253 6535 or investin@bury.gov.uk

Or if you would like more information about the new service please contact Michelle Atkinson in the Work and Health Programme Team by email michelle.atkinson3@nhs.net 

Kind regards 

The Investin Team 

Investin@bury.gov.uk

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