UK government launches schemes to encourage public sector staff back to work

The returner programmes will be launched by the Civil Service, the Local Government Association, the Department for Health and the Department of Education to target civil servants, social workers, health professionals and teachers.

The scheme is part of the government's work to support parents and carers returning to work, build home-grown skills, and close the gender pay gap. It said recent research by PwC showed that addressing the financial penalties caused to workers when they take a career break could give a £1.7 billion boost to the UK's economic output.

The programmes will see public sector employers offer training and tailored support to those returning from a career break, to help get them back up to speed for work. The Department for Health's scheme is the largest, targeting up to 300 health professionals including physiotherapists, podiatrists, dietitians, and radiographers.

Employment law expert Stuart Neilson of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said the scheme was a good one.

"It's a waste of resources if people aren't being given the opportunity to get back into work," Neilson said.

However Neilson said it would be hard for most private sector companies, save the very largest, to carry out similar schemes due to economies of scale.

"It's hard for individual employers to do something similar because they don't have the depth of resource needed to provide that kind of training," Neilson said. He suggested the government could consider incentivising return-to-work programmes in the private sector through some form of tax break. The precedent for state support for training in the private sector has already been established with the apprenticeship levy, he said.

The government will also work with business groups to identify how to boost further the opportunities for women returning to work. The returner programmes are part of its work to tackle the pay gap between men and women, with studies showing that women who take time out earn less when they return to employment.

This year new rules were brought in requiring employers to report on their gender pay gaps, although relatively few have yet done so. The rules include a new reporting regime for the public sector.

Neilson said efforts to close gender pay gaps should be welcomed.

"Anything which can be done to allow women to come back into the workplace at a higher level than they would otherwise come in would help reduce that gap," Neilson said. "However it may take quite a bit of time before this has a material impact on reducing the inequality in gender pay."

In tandem with the four public sector programmes, the Government Equalities Office has launched a public call for evidence asking employers and workers to contribute to its understanding of how best to support people returning to work, particularly within the private sector.