Sir Charlie Mayfield has issued a clear signal to employers: the Keep Britain Working movement is moving fast. And those not paying attention risk being left behind.
The latest progress update shows that momentum is not only being maintained, but accelerating. The number of organisations actively involved in the Vanguard phase has more than doubled since November, now standing at over 150 employers representing around 1.5 million employees across 24 sectors.
For HR, Benefits and Wellbeing leaders, this is no longer a policy conversation – it’s a live testbed for what the future of workplace health and wellbeing will look like in practice.
What the Vanguard organisations are actually doing
The Vanguard phase is not about theory. It’s about building, testing and refining what works – at pace.
Employers are currently engaged in 8-week “sprint” cycles, each focused on a critical part of the emerging Healthy Working Lifecycle framework.
Early areas of focus include:
- Prevention, led by Transport for London
- Stay-in-work strategies, led by Siemens
- Return-to-work models, led by Google
- Disability inclusion, in collaboration with Business Disability Forum
These sprints are tackling practical questions employers are already grappling with including:
- What does “good” prevention actually look like in different sectors?
- How do you operationalise effective stay-in-work plans?
- What makes return-to-work processes successful – and scalable?
- How should organisations measure disability inclusion outcomes?
The outputs from each sprint are then tested with a wider group of employers and stakeholders, feeding directly into what will become a UK-wide employer standard.
A growing movement – not a pilot
One of the most significant developments is the scale of engagement.
The Vanguard group has expanded rapidly to include organisations across public and private sectors, industries and regions. This is not a small pilot. It is becoming a national movement with real critical mass.
Alongside large employers, there is a strong push to involve SMEs through regional partnerships, ensuring solutions are not designed solely for complex, well-resourced organisations.
Regional mayoral authorities – including Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and the West of England – are actively convening local employers to test what works in different labour markets.
At the same time, devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are engaging to ensure alignment with local systems and priorities.
What’s changing behind the scenes
Alongside the employer-led work, three structural components are being built in parallel:
1. A practical employer standard
The Healthy Working Lifecycle is being translated into a clear, employer-facing framework – moving away from abstract wellbeing principles towards defined, actionable practices.
2. A reworked support system
Over 40 providers are now engaged in shaping what “good” workplace health provision looks like in practice, including:
- Early intervention and case management
- Integration between workplace and clinical pathways
- Rethinking the fit note system
The ambition is to move towards collaborative, work-focused health plans, rather than defaulting to “not fit for work” decisions.
3. A data and evidence backbone
A dedicated data workstream – led by EDF – is defining how outcomes will be measured, including:
- Sickness absence
- Return-to-work rates
- Participation and retention of disabled employees
This will feed into the new Workplace Health Intelligence Unit, which will act as the central hub for insight, benchmarking and continuous improvement.
What happens next
Over the next 12–18 months, employers can expect:
- A draft Healthy Working Lifecycle standard to emerge in 2026
- Expansion and refinement of workplace health provision models
- Early benchmarking data across participating organisations
- Clearer recommendations on incentives and system reform ahead of the next Spending Review
By 2028, the ambition is to have both the evidence and infrastructure in place to support national scaling.
For HR and wellbeing leaders, staying close to these developments is critical – not just to remain compliant, but to remain competitive.
The bottom line
The Keep Britain Working Review is no longer a set of recommendations – it’s an active programme of change.
The question for employers is not whether workplace health will evolve, but how quickly – and whether they will help shape that change or be asked to catch up later.
You can read the full interim report, including a list of Vanguards and Expert Advisors here.
Our Make a Difference Leaders’ Club continues to support the work of the Keep Britain Working Review and our meetings are being designed to both amplify the work of and test the initial finding of the Vanguards. If you are an employer and you would like to join the Leaders’ Club, you can find out more and apply here.
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