Under a new pilot programme, 15 regions will trial a new method of supporting people with health conditions into employment, taking the pressure off GPs.

The WorkWell Primary Care Innovation Fund, with £1.5 million to invest across 15 regions, will combat the practice of immediately writing people off work, and instead look for other ways to support them. Up to 56,000 disabled people and people with health conditions are expected to be supported by Workweek by Spring 2026, and forms part of a wider strategy to help the NHS recover.

Currently, of the 11 million fit notes issued electronically in primary care across England last year, 93 per cent just declared people as “not fit for work,” which offers no constructive alternative or support pathway. This new initiative will bring together Integrated Care Boards, local authorities and Jobcentre Plus to provide a single, coordinated gateway to work and health support services.

The investment, funded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), will allow WorkWelll sites to connect patients to local support services to provide advice and help. These interventions could help hiring work and health coaches social prescribers, or occupational therapists for GP teams, support and upskilling occupational therapists or physiotherapists to issue fit notes, and upskilling GP teams to improve their ability to support patients with local work and health advice.

The areas that are included in the pilot to receive £100,000 each are: Birmingham and Solihull; Black Country; Bristol; North Somerset and South Gloucestershire; Cambridgeshire and Peterborough; Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly; Coventry and Warwickshire; Frimley; Herefordshire and Worcestershire; Greater Manchester; Lancashire and South Cumbria; Leicester Leicestershire and Rutland; North Central London; South Yorkshire; Surrey Heartlands.