Posted by Ann Caluori | Wed, 07/10/2026 - 10:45
Britain’s youth inactivity crisis is increasingly a health crisis. Almost one million 16–24-year-olds are not in education, employment or training. Ill health - particularly mental ill health and neurodevelopmental conditions - is now a major barrier to work. Occupational health can bridge the gap between treatment and participation, giving young people and employers the specialist, work-focused support they need.
What Government can do now
- Build occupational health into the Youth Guarantee and Keep Britain Working agenda, joining up health, education and employment support around each young person.
- Open access beyond large employers, with funded and practical routes for small and medium-sized organisations that lack occupational health, HR or mental health provision.
- Fund youth-specific evaluation through the Milburn review and the proposed Workplace Health Intelligence Unit, with results broken down by age and condition.
- Scale proven, work-focused support for mental health, neurodivergence, musculoskeletal conditions and return to work.
Read the SOM briefing here.