Arm the unemployed with digital skills to get Britain back to work

Any plan to boost growth and prosperity has to start with turning round sick-note Britain and getting people back to work, says Matt Ashley

On the 13 June, three weeks after Rishi Sunak made his surprise call for a July General Election, Labour unveiled a manifesto for wealth creation and economic growth. 

Sir Keir promised a “pro-business and pro-worker plan” which would “rebalance the way we create wealth” — ending the “toxic” idea that economic growth is something handed out to the few and not the many.

Now, as Labour prepares to unveil its first Budget in 14 years, we are about to see how the party will invest to create its promised vision — for balanced, equitable wealth creation. 

There are a number of critical areas to address. Health is expected to be the big winner of the Budget — and rightly so — representing as it does the baseline from which everything else either prospers or withers.

But alongside health, perhaps there is no more critical issue for equitable wealth creation than getting Britain back to work. 

The UK workforce is shrinking, with a staggering 9.4m working-age adults now out of work due to long-term sickness, caring responsibilities, disability and more. 

Simultaneously, the population is rapidly ageing, placing an ever greater strain on an overwhelmed healthcare system which costs more than we can afford.

You don’t have to be an economist to spot the problem: a shrinking workforce, an ageing population, rapidly growing healthcare costs. Continue on this path, and the country’s financial forecast looks ever gloomier.

Labour’s proposed solution involves reforming healthcare, while also combining health interventions with job schemes to get Britain back to work.

Ending sick note Britain

From weight loss jabs to job coaches for the long-term sick, all of these solutions could make an impact. Combining care with career support is key to transforming the nation from ‘sick note Britain’ to ‘fit note Britain’.

But the transition from ‘fit’ to ‘prosperous’ will take more. Forging the conditions for equitable wealth creation across working Britain will require us not just to restore the nation’s health, but to empower workers with the attributes for long-term employability. 

As employers, we can all play our part.

At Cera, as a large healthtech company employing almost 10,000 frontline staff, we have recently launched a coalition to get Britain back to work — creating thousands of digital healthcare jobs for the unemployed and economically inactive. 

25 per cent of recent Cera recruits were previously unemployed, and five per cent live with a disability which affects working life. To build on this, we’ve set a target for 10 per cent of new recruits over the next 12 months to be people returning to the workforce after a longer period of economic inactivity, through our specialist ‘back to work’ schemes.

At the heart of this initiative is a drive to empower workers, not just with jobs for now, but with career-boosting skills for the future — from tech and digital training to discounted driving lessons.

Travelling from house to house is a key requirement for home carers, yet roughly 50 per cent of new applicants to the sector are ‘walkers’. The long-term solution to the skills shortage is not just to give the unemployed jobs: it’s also helping them learn to drive, or equipping them with a bike.

There are other similar barriers employers can help candidates overcome, from health assessments for the long-term sick, to menopause schemes, ‘returnship’ schemes for new parents, and resource groups for people caring for vulnerable or elderly relatives. Equitable wealth creation starts with supporting everyone to overcome barriers they face in returning to work.

Equitable wealth creation starts with supporting everyone to overcome barriers they face in returning to work

But above all else, people returning to the workforce need tech and digital skills. These are the skills of the 21st century — yet for those who’ve been out of work for some time, they may feel intimidatingly unattainable.

As employers, we can each invest something into tech and digital training for the unemployed, however small the cohort. My challenge to you as employers is to think creatively about one thing you can do, however small, to help forge the conditions for long-term wealth creation in your sector.

Getting Britain back to work has to start with arming the unemployed with new skills for life, not just jobs for now. The future will thank us for it.

Matt Ashley is chief financial officer at Cera