Scotland's Devolved Employment Services: statistical summary November 2019

Health & Work Support Pilot

The Health & Work Support pilot streamlines existing health and employability services offering support to those in work by providing a single point of contact for those at risk of falling out of work or who have recently left work due to ill health. The service offers NHS delivered case management support to those at risk of falling out of work or recently unemployed (up to 6 months) due to ill health, as well as offering specialist advice to individuals and employers. This 2-year pilot was launched on 26 June 2018. Tables 37 to 46 in the accompanying Excel tables refer to the pilot data.

How many people joined and what do we know about the people joining?

There have been 1,913 referrals to the pilot from its launch to the end of September 2019. Of these, 1,774 were enrolled in to case management within the same period. 1031 (58%) of these enrolments were in Dundee and 743 (42%) were in Fife.

In the most recent quarter (July to September 2019), 432 people were referred and 417 of these subsequently enrolled. This is a 6% decrease in referrals and a 2% decrease in enrolments from the previous quarter. The number of enrolments may increase as people who are referred during the last quarter may still enrol in to the service after the end of September.

Figure 11: Health & Work Support referrals, to end of September 2019^[11]

Figure 12: Health & Work Support enrolments, to end of September 2019^[8]

• An additional 40 people were offered light touch support between January and June 2019, of which 12 were in Dundee and 28 in Fife. Light touch support is offered when people are referred but fall outside of the enrolment criteria. This information is reported every six months as the numbers are small.
• Most people enrolled into the case management services were employed (88%), with 12% being recently unemployed (up to 6 months).
• More females (54%) than males (45%) joined the service. There was a higher proportion of females in all age groups apart from 65+. (Figure 13)

Figure 13: Age and gender of Health & Work Support enrolments, to end of September 2019

• Most users (57%) heard about the service from a GP, 10% from other health professionals, 11% from Jobcentre Plus, 11% from their employer, and 11% from other sources including advertising and word of mouth.
• Less than half of users (41%) reported a long-term health condition. Of these, 81% were either 'limited a lot' or 'limited a little' in their ability to carry out day-to-day activities. This means 33% of participants (587 out of 1774) reported having a disability. (Figure 14)
• The most common long-term health conditions reported are musculoskeletal conditions (e.g. back pain; 59%), followed by mental health conditions (28%). 9% reported other types of health conditions, and for 4% of participants health condition is unknown.

Figure 14: Long-term health conditions and extent of limitation, Health & Work Support enrolments, to end of September 2019

Notes:
1. Less than 1% are unknown and therefore are too small to be showing in this chart