UNIONS raised fears over disabled people facing benefit cuts for not taking so-called “personal responsibility” to return to work today.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said that it has “real concerns about proposals that would impose conditionality on workers for health issues” following the publication of a major review on how to keep people in work.

Other unions stressed that bosses should be doing more to keep people with disabilities in jobs and “not simply sending them to the dole queues as shirking their responsibilities.”

Former John Lewis boss Sir Charlie Mayfield’s report urged a reduced reliance on GP sick notes amid an “enormous” cost to employers from ill health among workers.

Poor workplace health costs British employers around £85 billion a year, he said, proposing a new approach where responsibility for health at work is shared between employers, employees and health services.

While it matters that employers do more to support their employees, his review states: “So does personal responsibility…

“Work can be demanding. Setbacks are part of life. Health and work are not always easy partners, but they are mutually reinforcing.”

He added that fit notes are “often problematic” as GPs are being asked to assess both the treatment needs of a patient and their capacity to work “despite most lacking occupational health training and time to get into sufficient detail.”

His review said that there are 800,000 more people out of work now than in 2019 due to health problems and that “without decisive action to address this trend, projections show we are on track to add another 600,000 by 2030.”

Speaking to the BBC, he added that the rise in sickness was being driven by a surge in mental health issues among young people and muscular skeletal issues, aches and joint pain in older people that was leading them to leave work.

“For employers, sickness and staff turnover bring disruption, cost and lost experience,” he said. “For the country, it means weaker growth, higher welfare spending and greater pressure on the NHS.”

PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “We all want to tackle workplace ill-health and there are some interesting proposals which now require wider consultation — not just with employers but vitally with trade unions representing workers, and those who claim benefits.

“We have real concerns about proposals that would impose conditionality on workers for health issues.

“Rising ill-health in the UK has coincided with lengthening NHS waiting lists, a worsening housing crisis and a rise in poverty. Tackling these issues will be essential to improving public health.

“While work can undoubtedly contribute to good health, cultures of long hours, workplace stress, insecure work, and low pay can actually worsen health and there is no discussion of this in Mayfield’s report.”

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “A top priority for employers should be keeping people with disabilities in jobs.

“Robust standards must be introduced to make sure adjustments to their workplaces are suitable and happen quickly.”

She described prevention as “key to stopping staff being signed off in the first place” urging ministers to ensure unions “are part of any changes to welfare, fit notes or other protection for people at work.”

GMB national secretary Andy Prendergast said: “This report says what unions have been saying for years; employers have a responsibility for the millions of sick workers struggling to find jobs in the economy. 

“They need to start being flexible and accommodating people who can make a real difference, not simply sending them to the dole queues as [shirking] their responsibilities.”

Responding to the report, the government announced a major partnership with more than 60 companies to “tackle the rising tide of ill-health that is pushing people out of work.”

The companies include Tesco, Google UK, Nando’s and John Lewis, who will, over the next three years, develop a voluntary certified standard which aims to “reduce sickness absence, improve return-to-work rates, and increase [the] disability employment rate.”

British Psychological Society president Dr Roman Raczka noted that “not everyone will be clinically well enough to be considering a return to employment.”

James Watson-O’Neill, from national disability charity Sense, reiterated calls for welfare benefits not to be slashed.

Disabled People Against Cuts co-founder Linda Burnip stressed that the cost of social security payments “aren’t spiralling and the proportion of GDP remains stable, although the government continually lie about that.”