Get Britain Working
What The White Paper Really Means
In March 2024, the UK Government published its “Get Britain Working” White Paper, a sweeping statement of intent aiming to reduce long-term economic inactivity and bring more people back into employment. At a glance, it’s positioned as pragmatic reform: a way to ease pressure on the welfare system, plug workforce gaps, and support national productivity.
But behind the policy objectives and political language lies a more human truth. For the millions of people this paper directly impacts, from those living with long-term health conditions to people recovering from mental illness or managing caring responsibilities, the question isn’t just what the government plans to do.
The real question is: how will this feel?
Because what might look like economic efficiency from Westminster can feel very different to those living in the messy, complex, and deeply personal realities of being out of work.
Policy on Paper, and the Reality Beneath It
The White Paper outlines several key reforms: a restructured Work Capability Assessment, expanded “conditionality” for health-related benefit recipients, increased integration of welfare and healthcare services, and wider use of digital tools, including AI, to assess eligibility and recommend interventions. At the heart of these proposals is a clear message: more people are capable of working than the current system accounts for, and the government is ready to challenge that assumption.
Framed in the language of opportunity and support, the paper claims to offer a fairer, more dynamic system, one that encourages people to prepare for, find, and stay in work. But for many, particularly those already feeling vulnerable, what’s being heard is a very different message: “You must prove your suffering. You must try harder. And if you don’t comply, there may be consequences.”
This shift from protection to productivity is subtle, but it’s significant. The paper’s underlying belief seems to be that too many people are being “written off,” and that re-engaging them is an act of empowerment. In theory, this may be true. But in practice, this approach risks becoming punitive, particularly when support is paired with sanctions, and the nuance of individual lives is filtered through assessment forms and algorithms.
The Psychological Weight of Worklessness
It’s important to acknowledge that long-term unemployment can take a serious toll. For many, being out of work leads to a loss of structure, confidence, identity, and social connection. The link between worklessness and poor mental health is well-documented. The White Paper is right to identify this, but it misses something fundamental: the psychological difficulty of returning.
People who’ve been out of work for a long time aren’t simply idle. Many are navigating grief, pain, trauma, or long-term conditions that don’t fit neatly into tick-box categories. Some are stuck in cycles of shame, self-doubt, or social isolation. Others are still recovering from past experiences of burnout, discrimination, or toxic work environments. For these individuals, even the idea of returning to work can trigger intense anxiety, not because they don’t want to work, but because the idea of failing again feels unbearable.
This emotional reality rarely shows up in policy papers. But it is absolutely central to whether any return-to-work programme actually works.
Why Resilience Can’t Be an Afterthought
Perhaps the most glaring omission from the Get Britain Working White Paper is the concept of psychological resilience. The document speaks in terms of readiness, capability, and opportunity, but it says almost nothing about the emotional and mental capacity required to navigate this kind of transition.
Resilience isn’t about stoicism or grit. It’s about emotional regulation, cognitive flexibility, and the ability to adapt to stress and uncertainty without becoming overwhelmed. For someone living with anxiety, PTSD, long COVID, or chronic pain, returning to work without first building these inner resources is like being thrown into deep water without learning to swim. It’s not just ineffective, it can be damaging.
At PsycApps, we work closely with individuals making this very journey. Through our CPD-certified Resilience Development Programme, we’ve seen the transformative impact that structured psychological support can have. With the right tools, people begin to believe in their own capacity again. They build self-efficacy, manage their stress responses, and start to imagine a future in which they are more than their diagnosis or circumstance. But this kind of change doesn’t happen under pressure. It happens when people feel safe, supported, and understood.
The Role of Employers in the Next Phase of Reform
While the White Paper places the burden of re-engagement largely on individuals and state systems, there’s another key player in this story: employers.
Bringing people back into work is not just about getting them through the Jobcentre door or past an assessment. It’s about making sure that when they do return, they find workplaces that are ready, not just procedurally, but emotionally. This means line managers who are trained in psychological safety. It means policies that allow for flexibility, adjustment, and phased returns. It means culture change, from “fit in or get out” to “we’ll meet you where you are.”
Without this shift in workplace mindset, many returners will walk straight into environments that feel unsafe or unsustainable. And when they leave again, through resignation, relapse or burnout, the system will quietly mark it as non-compliance, rather than acknowledging it as the entirely predictable outcome of an unsupported transition.
The Danger of Conditional Support
One of the most contentious aspects of the White Paper is its increased use of conditionality, the idea that benefit recipients must engage with work-related activity in order to maintain their financial support.
On the surface, this may seem fair. After all, society has a right to expect engagement in return for financial help. But conditionality becomes dangerous when it’s applied without compassion or flexibility. When the ability to comply is assumed, rather than explored, people are punished for having needs that don’t fit the system’s mould.
For those managing fluctuating conditions, executive dysfunction, or trauma-related avoidance, complying with rigid job-search requirements can be impossible. Not because they are lazy, but because they are overwhelmed. When support is perceived as a transaction rather than a relationship, trust in the system breaks down and the people who most need help become the least likely to seek it.
What “Getting Britain Working” Must Actually Mean
There is nothing wrong with aiming to reduce economic inactivity. Most people want to work. They want routine, purpose, and contribution. They want to be seen as capable, not pitied or dismissed. But true engagement can’t be forced. It must be built.
That means giving people time to heal. It means recognising that readiness is not binary, it exists on a spectrum, and each individual will move along it in their own way. It means valuing resilience, not just productivity. And it means designing a system that sees people not as costs to be minimised, but as humans to be understood.
This will require more than digital assessments and performance targets. It will require cultural change, from the DWP to the workplace floor. And it will require funding not just for placement schemes, but for genuine mental health support, resilience training, and psychologically informed care.
Reform Must Be Rooted in Humanity
The Get Britain Working White Paper is ambitious. In many ways, it’s necessary. But if it is to succeed, not just on paper, but in practice, it must hold space for the complex psychological reality of worklessness and re-entry.
We must not conflate pressure with progress. Pushing people back into the workforce without emotional preparation may reduce one set of costs, only to increase others: relapse, burnout, disengagement, and systemic distrust.
Resilience is not a buzzword, it is the foundation of sustainable re-engagement. If we invest in people’s capacity to adapt and recover, we don’t just reduce benefits claims. We build a workforce that can weather the storms ahead, with confidence, with care, and with dignity.
Explore our CPD-Certified Resilience Development Programme to start your journey today.
