Our response to the Keep Britain Working Review

Business Disability Forum’s Chief Executive Diane Lightfoot responds to the publication of the the Keep Britain Working Review.

On 5 November, Sir Charlie Mayfield published his eagerly anticipated Keep Britain Working Review.  

The Review sets out the scale of the challenge, and its key premise is the set up/implementation of “vanguards” for employers to test and learn – and crucially, share – what works. The vanguard concept is deliberately based on outcomes rather than being prescriptive and has 3 deliverables: 

• A healthy working lifecycle – to become a certified standard 
• Better Workplace Health Provision (WHP) 
• Evidence of what works. 

What does the report say? 

I was pleased to see recognition of the importance of culture and acknowledgement that there can be a lot of fear in this space – which in our experience, usually leads to inaction. Managers and employers generally often worry about doing the right thing and as a result, do nothing. Culture is the key to people feeling ‘safe to share’ and ask for what they need (and I’ll come onto workplace adjustments in a moment).  

Equally, if cultures, spaces, policies and practices are already inclusive by design and people have what they need, they may not need to share. Employers told us in research we published earlier this year that, when they have good processes in place, they ‘rarely’ need to know if an employee has a disability, just what they are finding difficult. Disabled employees who worked in organisations where they felt included and had all the adjustments they needed also said they ‘haven’t needed to’ say they have a disability. This is what workplace inclusion should look like. 

Of course, inclusive design (which goes beyond the universal design principles recommended in Keep Britain Working) reduces but does not remove the need for individual adjustments and so I was pleased to see the provision adjustment include in Mayfield’s report. I’ve reflected before that adjustments are a physical manifestation of culture – a tangible signifier of what matters round here and the values we espouse. So, it’s no surprise that we see time and time again that workplace adjustments are key to the retention of disabled employees and helping them return to work.

Less positively, we also see – and this is borne out by the report of our Great Big Workplace Adjustments Survey 2023 – that too often, getting adjustments is inconsistent and difficult. Much of what is in the Keep Britain Working report really chimes with our own findings, including disabled employees having to self-advocate to get the adjustments they need. Of course, the duty to make adjustments isn’t new – it’s already a legal requirement. Nevertheless, it’s one that is rarely adhered to, and we know that even many disabled employees are unaware of the breadth of their rights at work, so higher profile can only be a good thing.  

This links to the critical role of Access To Work (mentioned in the report as one of several ‘adjacent reforms’) also heavily featured (by name and also indirectly in a broader theme around the importance of adjustments and financial support to provide them) in the responses to the Pathways to Work consultation, released a couple of weeks ago. Access to Work is a fantastic concept; in operation it too often falls short, and we know it needs reform to make it fit for purpose for the modern workplace. We want to see Access to Work invested in and transformed as a key plank of supporting disabled people to get into and remain in work and we are hoping to see an announcement on its future in the coming weeks and months. 

It was also good to see the call to ‘humanise’ the workplace and have person-centred conversations. Line managers are key here – in our last Great Big Workplace Adjustments Survey we asked about a range of interventions and the consistent theme was that a trusted relationship between a disabled employee and their line manager was the most important factor in whether they were able to thrive at work. Senior leaders need to empower line managers to be creative, make decisions (for example, around adjustments), and solve problems by, in turn, supporting and trusting them. The Keep Britain Working report rightly states that workplaces have become procedural and risk averse, but we can only change that if line managers feel trusted and that senior leaders will “have their back” if they try something in good faith and it goes wrong. 

Workplace health provision  

Focusing on the role of employers in health and wellbeing makes sense in that work is where many of us spend the majority of our time. But it is vital to remember that the widescale adoption of hybrid and home working makes it so more difficult to physically ‘see’ people – and then in turn to spot the signs that they might be unwell. In the same way, the reference to creating ‘safe, inclusive environments’ is of course vitally important but much harder to do when employees’ working environments can vary so much – and are outside of the employer’s control.  

Let me be very clear that I’m not saying that everyone should go back to the office! Rather that there are additional challenges and we need to find other ways of noticing that someone might be struggling or need some additional support. Crucially, the role of employers (as the report acknowledges) must also be supported by real investment in the NHS (which is referenced) – people need to get well before they go back to work, and the current system is stretched way beyond capacity. We need to see the right people doing the right things. We welcome, for example, the acknowledgement that time-poor GPs are not best placed to be advising on workplace adjustments and the practical implications of returning to work.  

It’s also important to acknowledge that lots of employers are already doing a lot but need support to understand what works and unpick the ‘confusing patchwork of wellbeing initiatives’ (or “random set of explosions” as one employer said – appropriately perhaps given that the report was launched on Bonfire Night). This also chimes with our findings in the Great Big Workplace Adjustments Survey – of confusion and duplication and lack of understanding of which intervention to access when, and how. Workplace health provision must not be yet another ‘product’ that layers on top of this. Rather, the problem employers told us they wanted solved by this review is what good looks like when sourcing and purchasing these provisions.  

Indeed, understanding what good looks like – and what employers need to be doing right now ahead of the raft of incoming mandatory requirements in legislation – is what is missing from the report. There are lots of employers doing great things (many of which have signed up to be part of the vanguard and many of which are also our members) but for those who don’t know where to start, a framework – like our own Disability Smart Framework – can really help. 

There is no “silver bullet” to solve the conundrum of how to Keep Britain Working. It is only by a series of consistent, intentional actions that we will get there. 

We look forward to supporting the vanguards and sharing the experiences of our members with the Keep Britain Working Review Team as this work evolves.