My only question with the signing would be whether we have enough midfield depth once Nørgaard converts to #9.

Louis Moholo-Moholo, 1940-2025. One of the giants of the South African jazz diaspora in the UK. RIP.

At £118.75 a week, low statutory sick pay is a real issue. One figure we didn’t include: households with a full-time worker spend £193 a week on essentials like food, housing, fuel and power. Even among lower income households, it’s £128. SSP doesn’t cover the basics.

The Health Foundation@healthfoundation.bsky.social · last yr.

🧵 Statutory sick pay (SSP) reform is long overdue. The Employment Rights Bill, in the House of Lords today, would extend SSP to 1.3 million more workers – but the current rate remains too low to protect people from financial pressure when ill. Our new analysis 👇 bit.ly/3Z6uxk1

I was staggered to learn just how much pay typically swings about from month-to-month, even for the steadily-employed c/o @mikebrewerecon.bsky.social @stephenpjenkin1.bsky.social @nyecominetti.bsky.social We're all on @voxeu.org setting out their findings cepr.org/voxeu/column...

It's a scandal. We cannot create reliefs like R&D tax relief. I's generous, vague, and impossible to police - a dangerous combination. Better to have narrowly focussed reliefs which are only available to a much smaller number of businesses doing really serious R&D.

Interesting piece on a hard topic – the risk of overdiagnosis in mental health and the need to respond to distress with care.

Helen Salisbury@helensalisbury.bsky.social · last yr.

The medicalisation of distress, and possible overdiagnosis of MH conditions needs discussion focused on how best to help people, rather than as route to cut the benefits bill. Elspeth Davies and me in @bmj.com www.bmj.com/content/389/...

☕️Sunday morning read ☕️ Sacha Romanovitch, Chair of the @healthfoundation.bsky.social Commission For Healthier Working Lives has written in the @financialtimes.com about how to keep people with health conditions in employment. First 3 clicks are not paywalled!

How to keep sick people in employment

Support often comes too late — after workers have left jobs and when they have little chance of going back

giftarticle.ft.com

This little bit of the OBR report is a very technocratic description of an almighty row between them and DWP....

Responding to today’s Spring Statement, our Chief Executive, Jennifer Dixon says the Chancellor's cuts risk compromising people's health, with changes to benefits that will leave many people worse off, in worse health and less able to return to work. Read our full response ⬇️ buff.ly/YZ6EXKJ

Genuinely serious, realistic appraisal of our current predicament from @anthonypainter.bsky.social. Highly recommended. anthonypainter.substack.com/p/brexterity...

Brexterity Britain - no way out?

Without confronting the impairment of Brexit and austerity directly, the Government risks sinking into the same quicksand that swallowed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

anthonypainter.substack.com

As noted, cuts to health-related benefits risk worsening living standards and health. The case for reducing eligibility for PIP as a route to work doesn’t stand up - perhaps because a real answer would highlight the need for investment, while the government’s main aim is to say it’s spending less.

The Health Foundation@healthfoundation.bsky.social · last yr.

Responding to the Pathways to Work Green Paper, @davefinch.bsky.social welcomes measures that will rebalance the benefits system to support people to stay in work, but warns that cuts to disability benefits risk undermining this new approach. Read our full response ⬇️ buff.ly/zW7C33b

Mini flurry of new DWP reports yesterday: 1. Impact of extra Work Coach time on employment: www.gov.uk/government/p... 2. Estimates of lost output etc due to ill health preventing work www.gov.uk/government/s... 3. Data on durations on incapacity benefits. www.gov.uk/government/s...

The impact of additional Jobcentre Plus support on the employment outcomes of disabled people

gov.uk

This summarises today's Green Paper well: cuts are guaranteed while additional financial support is speculative. Cuts to PIP and UC-health will not be consulted on, so are almost certainly going to be scored by the OBR next week - but plans to compensate those who lose out are uncertain...

The rise in distress can be absolutely real and *at the same time* not (fully) explain why people are unable to work. For that, we need to also look at precarious work, broken education & a welfare system that only offers one way to describe your barriers to work: www.health.org.uk/features-and...

Overdiagnosis of mental disorders is making headlines again, this time thanks to Wes Streeting. But it is true? (thread) www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Wes Streeting: there is overdiagnosis of mental health conditions

Health secretary says too many people are being ‘written off’ and that is driving ministers’ changes to welfare

theguardian.com

The government is right to try to 'de-risk' the journey into work for people on incapacity benefits, through the kind of 'right to try' they are trailing today Taken along with the plans to improve employment support announced last year, it could have formed a transformative agenda But... 1/3

Good to see this - it reflects one of seven recommendations from the @healthfoundation.bsky.social's Commission for #HealthierWorkingLives. The government must move beyond short-term fixes and invest in long-term support for work and health. More in the Commission’s final report:

Action for healthier working lives

The Commission for Healthier Working Lives’ final report sets out the need for a new approach to work and health, outlining seven key recommendations to lay the foundation for long-term change.

health.org.uk

Stef Benstead@stefbenstead.bsky.social · last yr.

"The work and pensions secretary will promise a “right to try” guarantee for those currently on benefits to take on work but return to previous benefits if the job does not work out, without having to go through a gruelling reassessment process." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

As the government considers reforms and possible cuts to incapacity and disability support, we need a long-term vision for work and health – prioritising prevention and early support to help people stay in work and improve health.

The Health Foundation@healthfoundation.bsky.social · last yr.

The Commission for #HealthierWorkingLives argues for a bold long-term vision and sets out practical steps to help prevent people with health conditions leaving the workforce. Commission Chair, Sacha Romanovitch says it is time for us to reframe how we think about work and health ⬇️ buff.ly/cZ5bOVk

Yesterday, a Government press release claimed the number of people “considered too sick to work” had "quadrupled" since the pandemic (a "383% rise"). This is incorrect. In fact, it’s not even close. It's more like 40%. This thread explains why 🧵1/7

New paper on supporting workers' health and access to better work. As part of a wider programme of research to inform the Commission for Healthier Working Lives led by @healthfoundation.bsky.social. learningandwork.org.uk/resources/re...

Supporting workers’ health and access to better work

learningandwork.org.uk

‘Good work and good health go hand in hand’ Minister Sir Stephen Timms welcomes the Commission for #HealthierWorkingLives

@joefd.bsky.social · last yr.

Here for @healthfoundation.bsky.social Commission for #HealthierWorkingLives launch, with Chris Rocks setting out recommendations including a 1 year job guarantee.

❓ Being told you should ‘act your age’, ‘slow down’ or ‘that’s ‘too young’ for you’. ❓ Becoming ‘unemployable’ in your 50s. ❓ Being told you’re 'surprisingly tech-savvy’ or ‘you shouldn’t wear that at your age'.

We need to change the way we think about ageing | Age without limits

The Age Without Limits campaign aims to change the way we all think about ageing and support a growing movement of people and organisations working to make society more age-inclusive.

buff.ly

Important research published today on the work aspirations of DWP health & disability customers. Worth reading in full. Some of the testimony here is really important. www.gov.uk/government/p...

Work aspirations and support needs of health and disability customers: Interim findings

This report presents the employment aspirations, attitudes to work and support needs of health and disability customers.

gov.uk

Great to see this report from @timewise.bsky.social. Better work design, including flexible working, has an important role to play in maintaining health and helping employers retain workers with health challenges. It's good to see the sector-specific insights, as they’re often overlooked.

Timewise@timewise.bsky.social · 2y ago

Backed by a coalition of industry leaders, we are calling upon the UK government to go beyond the legislative proposals in the Employment Rights Bill to create practical partnerships with industry to speed up change. See more here: timewise.co.uk/article/endi... #EndTwoTierWorkforce #LabourMarket

Helpful new analysis from the team. Increasing mental health challenges are evident across a range of data sources, but it’s a complex picture. Dr Annie Irvine’s blog unpacks some of this complexity, which isn’t always recognised in the welfare system: www.health.org.uk/features-and...

The Health Foundation@healthfoundation.bsky.social · 2y ago

🧵 NEW: Over 1 in 10 working-age people are now affected by poor mental health. Our analysis, to inform the Commission for #HealthierWorkingLives, shows a rise in mental ill-health across data sources - underlining the need for government and employer action ⬇️ https://buff.ly/4hgu19U

Financial stress makes workers less productive.

The Quarterly Journal of Economics@qjeharvard.bsky.social · 2y ago

Recently accepted by #QJE, “Do Financial Concerns Make Workers Less Productive,” by Kaur, Mullainathan (@sendhil.bsky.social), Oh, and Schilbach (@fschilbach.bsky.social): doi.org/10.1093/qje/...

Really looking forward to this discussion with a great mix of speakers. Do join us to hear how international approaches could help improve workforce health here in the UK.

The Health Foundation@healthfoundation.bsky.social · 2y ago

What can the UK learn from international approaches to work and health? To discuss, Anita Charlesworth will be joined on 28 January by: • Sarah Cunningham, World Wellbeing Movement • @jonnygiff.bsky.social, @employmentstudies.bsky.social • Christopher Prinz, OECD • Myrthe van Vilsteren, UWL

New survey finds work-life balance is more important to workers than pay (in @theguardian.com today) But the UK has some of the weakest working time protections in the OECD (see chart) - we also have an above average % employees working v. long hours www.lancaster.ac.uk/media/lancas...

Fifty years after Keith Jarrett’s Köln concert, this programme tries to make sense of its enduring magic www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

50 years of the Koln Concert - BBC Sounds

After 50 years of Keith Jarrett's Koln Concert Kevin le Gendre unpicks its enduring appeal

bbc.co.uk