Sheffield action to help more people to find jobs and improve their health as a result

The schemes are part of a plan to bring about a fair and healthy Sheffield that was discussed at a city health and wellbeing board meeting at Sheffield Town Hall yesterday (June 26).

A report to the board said: “People who are not in paid work are disproportionately those with health conditions, who live in the most socio-economically deprived parts of the city and people with protected characteristics such as people from ethnic minority communities and carers.”

The report said that research shows people who are unemployed die earlier. As well as being vital to household income, work can give people a sense of purpose and improve their health, including mental health.

It added that employment can be bad for health if it is an unsafe job, is poorly paid or is in a workplace where people experience discrimination or a lack of control.

The government’s Get Britain Working White paper published last year set a target employment rate of 80%. Figures from December 2024 show Sheffield has an employment rate of 72.9%.

Trailblazer

As a result, the government is funding a number of projects in the city to help increase that figure.

These include an Economic Inactivity Trailblazer. It aims to engage with more than 1,400 economically inactive residents to engage or reengage with the labour market in 2025-26, supporting at least 800 into employment.

This involves community-based support activity and work with employers to offer roles, including those accessible to people with health conditions or neurodiversity.

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Another programme will focus on people who have lost work or are struggling to stay in work because of health conditions.

Ruth Granger, consultant in public health, told the meeting: “We’re focusing on good work for all because not all work is good work.” She said volunteering is important but people need a good income to stay healthy.

Board co-chair Coun Angela Argenzio raised the issue of asylum seekers, who are not allowed to work by law. She said that badly affects their health, along with living in poor conditions such as the hotels, which are not the luxury spaces they are made out to be, and the mental distress of what they have gone through to reach the UK.

Training

John Powell, council partnership manager for employment and skills, said that some work involves helping people who are about to get their status to remain ready to apply for jobs, such as having CVs ready.

He also described how the team exert gentle pressure on employers who are involved in the scheme to improve their interactions with job seekers. This includes offering training to employers on engaging with people who are neurodiverse.

Ms Granger said that where bad conditions are found, the council’s environmental health team will be called in.

Director of public health Greg Fell stressed that running decent workplaces is not about offering staff “yoga and bananas”, it is about tackling toxic cultures.

Coun Douglas Johnson described a lunch programme at St Mary’s Church in Bramall Lane, where people who are long-term unemployed, including through mental health issues, came every week for a free meal. Some helped to prepare the food as well as eat it.

He said that many were hard to convince that showing up every week and cooperating with others to help at the lunches showed they had some marketable skills because they believed they were unemployable. However, the funding ran out and the events no longer take place.