The former John Lewis boss Sir Charlie Mayfield has been leading the Keep Britain Working review, which was commissioned by the government to look into the role of employers in health and disability.
“[Employers] need to create the environment so people can talk about the help they might need,” he told the BBC.
The UK needs to move from a disjointed system that focuses on what people can’t do to one that focuses on what they can do, he said.
“Being off work is not always the solution.”
The review found that there are 8.7 million people in the UK with a work-limiting health condition, an increase of 2.5 million over the last decade.
This includes 1.2 million 16 to 34-year-olds and 900,000 50 to 64-year-olds.
It also found that people who are out of work for less than a year are five times more likely to return to work compared to those who are out of work for longer.
