Report highlights how employment helps tackle addiction

A new report has highlighted the role that employment plays in improving the self-worth of people with drug and alcohol addictions.

Commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions, the report recommends further exploration into ways people addicted to drugs and alcohol can be helped to find work, and improved joined-up working between work and health services.

Carried out by Professor Dame Carol Black, the report also looks at the role of employers in helping secure good employment opportunities for people who have struggled with addiction.

The Local Government Association warned that the report was welcome, but not ‘radical’ enough - saying it had hoped the review ‘would recommend more radical steps for how Jobcentre Plus should work much more collaboratively with councils and other local partners to take account of local labour market conditions and treatment complexity’.

Black said: “Our goal has been to find ways of overcoming the employment problems that people face when they are addicted to alcohol or drugs, or are obese.

“After a searching inquiry we are clear that a fresh approach is needed, one that brings together health, social, and employment agencies in new collaborative ways, personalised to the circumstances of each individual.”

Penny Mordaunt, Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work, said: “Your success in life shouldn’t be determined by the circumstances of your birth. We are committed to helping people break down the barriers they face and secure a good job where they can fulfil their potential.”