TO BE PUBLISHED November 2025
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This conference will consider next steps for supporting mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. Delegates will assess priorities for improving employment support and employer practices, and for ensuring that welfare reform, healthcare provision and workplace policies work together to promote participation and wellbeing.
It will bring together key stakeholders and policymakers to discuss implications of the Government’s Get Britain Working policy paper and associated reforms to health and disability benefits. Attendees will examine the proposed shift toward prevention and early intervention, the expansion of integrated health and employment support, and the development of place-based approaches - with a particular focus on reducing mental-health-related economic inactivity, including among younger people and those not in education, employment or training.
Sessions will explore practical implications of new legislation and forthcoming review findings for employers - particularly in relation to recruitment, retention, and return to work - as well as wider issues around workplace culture, burnout, and mental health support in low-paid roles. We expect discussion to assess stakeholder concerns on the financial security of those affected by changes to incapacity and disability benefits, and the impact on individuals with long-term or fluctuating mental health conditions.
Further sessions will assess the relationship between mental health and economic participation in the context of wider social factors - including the cost of living, access to primary care and early treatment, and potential longer-term consequences for productivity and demand on public services.
With the agenda currently in the drafting stage, overall areas for discussion include:
- welfare and employment reform:
- proposals in the Get Britain Working policy paper - shift to prevention and early intervention
- coordination between DWP, DHSC, NHS and local services to address mental-health-related economic inactivity
- benefits system overhaul:
- replacement of the Work Capability Assessment - revisions to eligibility for Personal Independence Payment and Universal Credit
- risks of financial insecurity and system complexity for people with fluctuating mental health conditions
- local delivery and integration:
- implementation of the Connect to Work programme - development of local Get Britain Working plans
- coordination between employment services, health support, and skills provision within ICSs and combined authorities
- young people and mental health:
- support provided under the Youth Guarantee - impact of delayed access to the UC health top-up until age 22
- response to high rates of inactivity linked to mental health among 18-24 year-olds
- workplace health support:
- role of employers in creating inclusive environments - flexible working, phased returns, and reasonable adjustments
- implications of the forthcoming independent review
- employee rights and protections:
- assessing the Employment Rights Bill in respect of supporting mental wellbeing - changes to flexible work, statutory sick pay, and job security
- implications for employers and workers across different sectors
- employer capacity and incentives:
- addressing barriers to inclusive recruitment and retention - financial and administrative pressures for smaller employers
- incentives and support for occupational health investment
- effectiveness of clinical support:
- role of NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement Support - employment outcomes linked to existing interventions, including variations by condition type and severity
- coordination between employment services and mental health care
- long-term funding and sustainability:
- resources required for national and local initiatives - continuity and scalability of employment support schemes
- management of costs across welfare, health, and employment systems
- inequalities in access and outcomes:
- groups benefiting least from existing support - disparities by age, ethnicity, and condition severity - incorporation of lived experience in future policy design
