Autumn Statement to focus on OH reform – report

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement is set to focus on ways to boost and expand occupational health, according to reports.

The Autumn Statement, which normally happens in November, will address ways to tackle the sharp rise seen since the pandemic in people being off work long term because of mental ill health, the Financial Times has reported.

According to the paper, allies of work and pensions secretary Mel Stride have argued that he believes “a whole system change” is needed, including further changes to sick note certification and the role of tax breaks as a means to incentivise employers to invest in occupational health.

The government is currently running two consultations, one by the Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) looking at tax incentives for OH, and the other, by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), gauging views on how best to expand access to OH, including the development of a new “national health at work” standard.

Both are set to close in early October, and so their findings may feed into any Autumn Statement announcements.

The FT has quoted one “government insider” as saying: “People are currently being channelled into the benefit system when the reality is lots of them could work. Good work can be part of the recovery journey.”

The twin consultations have made it clear that the government is prepared to think about radically about reform of workplace health provision, including the possibility of making access to OH a legal requirement, much like pensions auto-enrolment.

The new health at work standard would, it has argued, embed “a simple and clear baseline for quality OH provision by employers”.

Equally, the Treasury/HMRC consultation is looking at options including expanding the Benefit in Kind exemption for medical benefits to encourage greater employer provision of occupational health services and, among other areas, the case for expanding tax relief to cover a wider range of treatments.