Increasing Aspiration.
Promoting Good Work.
Reducing Health Inequalities.
GET
SOUTH MIDLANDS
WORKING
The South Midlands Get Britain Working Partnership is seeking to set out a vision to integrate health, work and skills work support across our region within the term of the current government. HM Government’s White Paper “Get Britain Working” aspires to achieve an 80% employment rate by addressing six key challenges:
- Employer Vacancies
- Disparities in Labour Market Outcomes.
- Exclusion from the Labour Market
- Youth Employment
- Insecure and Low-Quality Work
- Challenges for Women
OUR
PURPOSE
Our purpose is to work with our residents, employers and partners to support good working lives and equity within our communities. We will look at scaling up existing solutions and developing fresh solutions to supporting residents in work, health, and skills development. Together we will build on what is strong and address what is wrong.
By linking communities themselves, health, work, skills, business, the voluntary and community sector and social care, we intend to deliver comprehensive, place-based approach that empowers individuals, supports local economies, and creates long-term positive outcomes.
Get involved in Get South Midlands Working
To inform a co-produced approach to creating a Get South Midlands Working Plan a series of engagement opportunities have been planned throughout the Summer. The engagement is being conducted by an independent organisation – GC Insight. The surveys will close on 3rd October 2025.
If you’re an employer, please share your views and experiences in this online survey GBW Employer Survey.
If you provide a service, this could be health, skills or employment related, to economically inactive residents:
- Please share your views and experiences in this online survey GBW Survey Provider Survey
- Share with residents you support the opportunity to input into the plan by completing the resident survey. For more information about this please contact southmidlandsGBW@gcinsight.com
If you’re a resident in the South Midlands who has experienced being out of work in the last 12 months please share your views and experiences here GBW Resident Survey.
In the survey you will be asked if you’d like to share your views in more detail in a conversation with one of our researchers, this is completely optional.
Challenges facing the SOuth Midlands
High economic inactivity & long-term sickness
– Long-term sickness is the biggest driver.
– The South Midlands follows this national trend, with significant variation across our region
Workforce pressures in health & social care
– Recruitment and retention challenges in NHS and care Sector
– Need for new entry routes via apprenticeships, upskilling, and employment pathways
Health inequalities & fit note depencency
– 1 in 5 GP appointment are non-medical (linked to work, money, housing, stress)
– Higher reliance on fit notes suggests gaps in keeping residents in work or transitioning them back into employment
Integrated care & place based working
– Integrated Care Syustem (ICS) prioritises prevention, early intervention, and tackling social determinants of health
– Neighbourhood-based collaboration is essential to make work and health support accessible, localised, and effective
The role of employers and Anchor institutions
The Get South Midlands Working approach will focus on early intervention and prevention with an increased education offer for employers in terms of promoting healthy work places and mental health support, an uplift in hiring and retaining workers with health conditions, increased engagement with job centres to consider job carving, adjustment support and flexible use of the Growth and Skills training levy. In South Midlands the Work and Health Stewardship Partnership, place-based Employment, Skills and Business Boards, Economic Growth Boards and ICB Workforce Anchor Boards will play a direct role in supporting the wider community where possible with access to education, maximising our social value approach to support employers and communities. As Anchor organisations we are committed to leveraging our social value, assets, and social capital to support economic growth and wellbeing.
Take a deeper look a the data
As part of the Get Britian Working programme we’ve collated available data from public data sourced from the ONS and from Government departments, to inform the South Midlands plan.
Key policies
Along with Get Britain Working, we have set out some key policies that will inform the missions we build together to empower and support aspiration, prosperity, and wellbeing below:
Get Britain Working White Paper (2024)
Takling economic inactivity, reforming health & disability benefits, integrating job centres with health services
Dame Carol Black Review (2021)
The role of work in mental and physical health, occupational health reforms
NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan (2022)
Expansion of apprenticeships, local workforce sustainability, upskilling in health & social care
Leveling Up White Paper (2022)
Reducing regional inequalities in employment, skills and health outcomes
working collaboratively
Get
involved
Help us to reshape the future of work and skills support across the South Midlands.