Christopher Rocks

My only question with the signing would be whether we have enough midfield depth once Nørgaard converts to #9.

Louis Moholo-Moholo, 1940-2025. One of the giants of the South African jazz diaspora in the UK. RIP.

At £118.75 a week, low statutory sick pay is a real issue.

One figure we didn’t include: households with a full-time worker spend £193 a week on essentials like food, housing, fuel and power.

Even among lower income households, it’s £128.

SSP doesn’t cover the basics.

I was staggered to learn just how much pay typically swings about from month-to-month, even for the steadily-employed c/o @mikebrewerecon.bsky.social @stephenpjenkin1.bsky.social @nyecominetti.bsky.social

We're all on @voxeu.org setting out their findings
cepr.org/voxeu/column...

It's a scandal.

We cannot create reliefs like R&D tax relief. I's generous, vague, and impossible to police - a dangerous combination. Better to have narrowly focussed reliefs which are only available to a much smaller number of businesses doing really serious R&D.

Interesting piece on a hard topic – the risk of overdiagnosis in mental health and the need to respond to distress with care.

How to keep sick people in employment Support often comes too late — after workers have left jobs and when they have little chance of going back

☕️Sunday morning read ☕️

Sacha Romanovitch, Chair of the @healthfoundation.bsky.social Commission For Healthier Working Lives has written in the @financialtimes.com about how to keep people with health conditions in employment.

First 3 clicks are not paywalled!

This little bit of the OBR report is a very technocratic description of an almighty row between them and DWP....

'The fiscal outlook requires difficult choices, but the decisions taken in today’s Spring Statement will hit some of the most vulnerable people the hardest and risk damaging the nation's health and future prosperity.' Dr Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive at the Health Foundation

Responding to today’s Spring Statement, our Chief Executive, Jennifer Dixon says the Chancellor's cuts risk compromising people's health, with changes to benefits that will leave many people worse off, in worse health and less able to return to work.

Read our full response ⬇️

buff.ly/YZ6EXKJ

Brexterity Britain - no way out? Without confronting the impairment of Brexit and austerity directly, the Government risks sinking into the same quicksand that swallowed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Genuinely serious, realistic appraisal of our current predicament from @anthonypainter.bsky.social. Highly recommended.

anthonypainter.substack.com/p/brexterity...

Some really useful reflections - an interesting point to explore further is whether and how groups should be considered differently (or not).

Useful chart and way of understanding trends. Minor point of clarity, is this percentage change in the rate or a percentage points change?

Action for healthier working lives The Commission for Healthier Working Lives’ final report sets out the need for a new approach to work and health, outlining seven key recommendations to lay the foundation for long-term change.

Our Commission for Healthier Working Lives set out some positive steps here: www.health.org.uk/reports-and-...

We’re expecting more from the Mayfield Review on the role of employers this week. Bold change and a long-term vision are increasingly urgent. We need to take a serious look at how to make work more accessible for people with health challenges and prevent health-related job loss.

The government has called for a 'decisive shift' towards prevention and early intervention. With 300,000 people a year leaving work and reporting work-limiting conditions, it should deliver on that promise. But yesterday’s announcements did not make it much clearer how or when that will happen.

As noted, cuts to health-related benefits risk worsening living standards and health. The case for reducing eligibility for PIP as a route to work doesn’t stand up - perhaps because a real answer would highlight the need for investment, while the government’s main aim is to say it’s spending less.

The impact of additional Jobcentre Plus support on the employment outcomes of disabled people

Mini flurry of new DWP reports yesterday:
1. Impact of extra Work Coach time on employment: www.gov.uk/government/p...
2. Estimates of lost output etc due to ill health preventing work www.gov.uk/government/s...
3. Data on durations on incapacity benefits. www.gov.uk/government/s...

Screenshot of Annex A: Summary of Policy Measures and Consultation Questions

This summarises today's Green Paper well: cuts are guaranteed while additional financial support is speculative.

Cuts to PIP and UC-health will not be consulted on, so are almost certainly going to be scored by the OBR next week - but plans to compensate those who lose out are uncertain...

Action for healthier working lives The Commission for Healthier Working Lives’ final report sets out the need for a new approach to work and health, outlining seven key recommendations to lay the foundation for long-term change.

Agreed. Our Commission for HWLs called for something similar last week, suggesting a ‘rehabilitation’ benefit period – with a contributory element – for up to 12 months after leaving work: www.health.org.uk/reports-and-...

The rise in distress can be absolutely real and *at the same time* not (fully) explain why people are unable to work. For that, we need to also look at precarious work, broken education & a welfare system that only offers one way to describe your barriers to work: www.health.org.uk/features-and...

Wes Streeting: there is overdiagnosis of mental health conditions Health secretary says too many people are being ‘written off’ and that is driving ministers’ changes to welfare

Overdiagnosis of mental disorders is making headlines again, this time thanks to Wes Streeting. But it is true?

(thread)

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The major question thrown up by Labour's welfare plans The debate has sparked a wider dilemma about the broader purpose of welfare

And this is a helpful piece from @faisalislam.bsky.social
– good to see discussion on a more long-term, preventative approach to work and health: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The government is right to try to 'de-risk' the journey into work for people on incapacity benefits, through the kind of 'right to try' they are trailing today

Taken along with the plans to improve employment support announced last year, it could have formed a transformative agenda

But... 1/3

Good to see this - it reflects one of seven recommendations from the @healthfoundation.bsky.social's Commission for #HealthierWorkingLives. The government must move beyond short-term fixes and invest in long-term support for work and health. More in the Commission’s final report:

As the government considers reforms and possible cuts to incapacity and disability support, we need a long-term vision for work and health – prioritising prevention and early support to help people stay in work and improve health.

Image of Government press release stating a "383% rise in less than five years" in the number of people considered too sick to look for work.

Yesterday, a Government press release claimed the number of people “considered too sick to work” had "quadrupled" since the pandemic (a "383% rise"). This is incorrect. In fact, it’s not even close. It's more like 40%.

This thread explains why 🧵1/7

Supporting workers’ health and access to better work

New paper on supporting workers' health and access to better work.

As part of a wider programme of research to inform the Commission for Healthier Working Lives led by @healthfoundation.bsky.social.

learningandwork.org.uk/resources/re...

‘Good work and good health go hand in hand’ Minister Sir Stephen Timms welcomes the Commission for #HealthierWorkingLives

We need to change the way we think about ageing | Age without limits The Age Without Limits campaign aims to change the way we all think about ageing and support a growing movement of people and organisations working to make society more age-inclusive.

❓ Being told you should ‘act your age’, ‘slow down’ or ‘that’s ‘too young’ for you’.
❓ Becoming ‘unemployable’ in your 50s.
❓ Being told you’re 'surprisingly tech-savvy’ or ‘you shouldn’t wear that at your age'.