Improving health at work is a national priority. Rates of work-related ill health are on the rise across the UK and in 2022/23, 35.2 million working days were lost due to work-related ill health and non-fatal workplace injury. Good work is one of the building blocks of health, but poor-quality or insecure work can be worse for people’s health than being out of work.

Although employers have a key role in promoting healthier work, many lack the time, resource or expertise to support their workers’ health and improving employer practices can be challenging. This research, commissioned by Health Equals, identifies that local governments are uniquely placed to work with and support employers and ultimately drive an agenda for healthier work. However, the research finds that the impact of their work is limited by a lack of funding, fragmentation, multiple overlapping initiatives, and a lack of robust evidence.

This paper is aimed at local governments to help them consider the actions they can take to improve the working health of their residents, focusing on how they can engage with employers to create healthier workplaces. It suggests that local action plans effectively designed, delivered and evaluated across local authorities could form the start of a locally led healthy work agenda. This could have tangible, measurable impacts across the UK, with a clear focus for employers and residents so they can understand what healthy work is, how it benefits them, and how to achieve it in their organisations and their lives.

This report is the second of three papers commissioned by Health Equals to explore the relationship between health and work. The first paper explores what support helps disabled people and people with health conditions move into sustainable work.

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