Thousands of people across England and Wales will soon get more help to find work again as another one of the Plan For Change projects. The Department for Work and Pensions announced that £80 million will go to mental health and peer support projects across the country. The money will reach areas with the highest numbers of people out of work, helping local leaders create programmes that match the needs of their communities.
Right now, 9.1 million people in the UK are currently out of work as numbers by ONS report. The new funding will help address this through a community-led model that connects people to work preparation schemes, training, and social support.
The main idea with this one is to remove obstacles that prevent people from returning to the job market, including poor mental health, low confidence and social isolation.
What Will The Support Look Like?
Each local area can design its own strategy to helping residents. The support will include social groups, work readiness training, mental health care and employer partnerships. The goal is to treat health and employment as connected issues, not separate ones.
New trials such as community link workers and a digital self-referral platform are also being added. These connect people to local services for mental health and skills training. This kind of early help has already shown results in communities that tested the model earlier this year.
In Wales, the Work and Pensions Secretary is visiting Neath Port Talbot to launch the extended programme. Early success in Denbighshire and Blaenau Gwent saw the creation of wellbeing workshops and skills sessions covering all things around self-confidence, teamwork and problem solving. These projects have helped people regain the motivation to return to the workplace.
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So these projects are for people who had to be away from work for long periods due to personal struggles related to mental health. The idea is to make work more accessible for those who have been left out of the job market, not through pressure but through care and support. Every person deserves the chance to build a better life through stable work, and this programme is one way of giving that opportunity.
How Does This Link To The Government’s Mental Health Funding?
This follows last week’s announcement for up to £50 million in government funding for the Mental Health Goals research programme. The funding was announced on World Mental Health Day and is intended to create better treatments and make sure mental health care meets the real needs of patients.
The government said poor mental health affects 1 in 4 people in England and costs the UK economy around £300 billion a year. The project will create a volunteer group of 20,000 people to help researchers understand how mental and physical health are connected. It will also bring people with lived experience into the design of new treatments.
One thing that should be looked at, though, why it has taken this long for mental health to be treated as a national priority. It seems that only now, as mental illness starts to affect business productivity and reduce the number of available workers, it is being given real attention. This brings up an uncomfortable but necessary question about whether the issue is being taken seriously because people are struggling, or because companies are losing valuable employees as a result.
Even so, the two recent announcements show that mental health is at least starting to be addressed and those affected are getting the help they deserve, through both community support and scientific research. One looks at helping people rebuild their working lives, while the other looks to improve treatment and understanding at a national level.
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Pat McFadden said: “For too long too many people have been locked out of the job market, which fails them and fails our economy.
“That is why we are doing things differently – putting local leaders in the driving seat so the right support goes to their community.
“By further investing in our trailblazers we’re helping people who were previously underserved or overlooked to build the confidence and skills they need to thrive.”
