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Christopher Rocks

@christopher-rocks.bsky.social
222 followers 338 following 17 posts

Lead Economist and Head of Secretariat @HealthFdn HealthierWorkingLives. Views my own.

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Reposted by Christopher Rocks
Billy Carpenter @billycarpy.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
My only question with the signing would be whether we have enough midfield depth once Nørgaard converts to #9.
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Jonathan Derbyshire @jderbyshire.ft.com · 14/06/2025
Louis Moholo-Moholo, 1940-2025. One of the giants of the South African jazz diaspora in the UK. RIP.
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Christopher Rocks @christopher-rocks.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
At £118.75 a week, low statutory sick pay is a real issue. One figure we didn’t include: households with a full-time worker spend £193 a week on essentials like food, housing, fuel and power. Even among lower income households, it’s £128. SSP doesn’t cover the basics.
Survey data shows that statutory sick pay falls short of covering even essential household costs
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Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
I was staggered to learn just how much pay typically swings about from month-to-month, even for the steadily-employed c/o @mikebrewerecon.bsky.social @stephenpjenkin1.bsky.social @nyecominetti.bsky.social We're all on @voxeu.org setting out their findings cepr.org/voxeu/column...
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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
It's a scandal. We cannot create reliefs like R&D tax relief. I's generous, vague, and impossible to police - a dangerous combination. Better to have narrowly focussed reliefs which are only available to a much smaller number of businesses doing really serious R&D.
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Christopher Rocks @christopher-rocks.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Interesting piece on a hard topic – the risk of overdiagnosis in mental health and the need to respond to distress with care.
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Billie Morgan @billiedsm.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
☕️Sunday morning read ☕️ Sacha Romanovitch, Chair of the @healthfoundation.bsky.social Commission For Healthier Working Lives has written in the @financialtimes.com about how to keep people with health conditions in employment. First 3 clicks are not paywalled!
giftarticle.ft.com
How to keep sick people in employment
Support often comes too late — after workers have left jobs and when they have little chance of going back
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
This little bit of the OBR report is a very technocratic description of an almighty row between them and DWP....
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The Health Foundation @healthfoundation.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Responding to today’s Spring Statement, our Chief Executive, Jennifer Dixon says the Chancellor's cuts risk compromising people's health, with changes to benefits that will leave many people worse off, in worse health and less able to return to work. Read our full response ⬇️ buff.ly/YZ6EXKJ
'The fiscal outlook requires difficult choices, but the decisions taken in today’s Spring Statement will hit some of the most vulnerable people the hardest and risk damaging the nation's health and future prosperity.' Dr Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive at the Health Foundation
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
Genuinely serious, realistic appraisal of our current predicament from @anthonypainter.bsky.social. Highly recommended. anthonypainter.substack.com/p/brexterity...
anthonypainter.substack.com
Brexterity Britain - no way out?
Without confronting the impairment of Brexit and austerity directly, the Government risks sinking into the same quicksand that swallowed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
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Christopher Rocks @christopher-rocks.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
As noted, cuts to health-related benefits risk worsening living standards and health. The case for reducing eligibility for PIP as a route to work doesn’t stand up - perhaps because a real answer would highlight the need for investment, while the government’s main aim is to say it’s spending less.
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Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Mini flurry of new DWP reports yesterday: 1. Impact of extra Work Coach time on employment: www.gov.uk/government/p... 2. Estimates of lost output etc due to ill health preventing work www.gov.uk/government/s... 3. Data on durations on incapacity benefits. www.gov.uk/government/s...
gov.uk
The impact of additional Jobcentre Plus support on the employment outcomes of disabled people
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Louise Murphy @louisemurphy.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
This summarises today's Green Paper well: cuts are guaranteed while additional financial support is speculative. Cuts to PIP and UC-health will not be consulted on, so are almost certainly going to be scored by the OBR next week - but plans to compensate those who lose out are uncertain...
Screenshot of Annex A: Summary of Policy Measures and Consultation Questions
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Annie Irvine @annieirvine.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
The rise in distress can be absolutely real and *at the same time* not (fully) explain why people are unable to work. For that, we need to also look at precarious work, broken education & a welfare system that only offers one way to describe your barriers to work: www.health.org.uk/features-and...
health.org.uk
Unravelling the rise in mental health-related inactivity
Dr Annie Irvine on why we need a much more holistic approach to understanding capacity in order to tackle mental health-related inactivity.
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Dr Lucy Foulkes @lucyfoulkes.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Overdiagnosis of mental disorders is making headlines again, this time thanks to Wes Streeting. But it is true? (thread) www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Wes Streeting: there is overdiagnosis of mental health conditions
Health secretary says too many people are being ‘written off’ and that is driving ministers’ changes to welfare
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Tom Pollard @pollardtom.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
The government is right to try to 'de-risk' the journey into work for people on incapacity benefits, through the kind of 'right to try' they are trailing today Taken along with the plans to improve employment support announced last year, it could have formed a transformative agenda But... 1/3
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Christopher Rocks @christopher-rocks.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Good to see this - it reflects one of seven recommendations from the @healthfoundation.bsky.social's Commission for #HealthierWorkingLives. The government must move beyond short-term fixes and invest in long-term support for work and health. More in the Commission’s final report:
health.org.uk
Action for healthier working lives
The Commission for Healthier Working Lives’ final report sets out the need for a new approach to work and health, outlining seven key recommendations to lay the foundation for long-term change.
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Christopher Rocks @christopher-rocks.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
As the government considers reforms and possible cuts to incapacity and disability support, we need a long-term vision for work and health – prioritising prevention and early support to help people stay in work and improve health.
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Iain Porter @iainkporter.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Yesterday, a Government press release claimed the number of people “considered too sick to work” had "quadrupled" since the pandemic (a "383% rise"). This is incorrect. In fact, it’s not even close. It's more like 40%. This thread explains why 🧵1/7
Image of Government press release stating a "383% rise in less than five years" in the number of people considered too sick to look for work.
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Oriane Nermond @oriane-nmd.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
New paper on supporting workers' health and access to better work. As part of a wider programme of research to inform the Commission for Healthier Working Lives led by @healthfoundation.bsky.social. learningandwork.org.uk/resources/re...
learningandwork.org.uk
Supporting workers’ health and access to better work
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joefd.bsky.social @joefd.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
‘Good work and good health go hand in hand’ Minister Sir Stephen Timms welcomes the Commission for #HealthierWorkingLives
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Centre for Ageing Better @ageingbetter.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
❓ Being told you should ‘act your age’, ‘slow down’ or ‘that’s ‘too young’ for you’. ❓ Becoming ‘unemployable’ in your 50s. ❓ Being told you’re 'surprisingly tech-savvy’ or ‘you shouldn’t wear that at your age'.
buff.ly
We need to change the way we think about ageing | Age without limits
The Age Without Limits campaign aims to change the way we all think about ageing and support a growing movement of people and organisations working to make society more age-inclusive.
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Alison McGovern @allymcgovern.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Important research published today on the work aspirations of DWP health & disability customers. Worth reading in full. Some of the testimony here is really important. www.gov.uk/government/p...
gov.uk
Work aspirations and support needs of health and disability customers: Interim findings
This report presents the employment aspirations, attitudes to work and support needs of health and disability customers.
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Christopher Rocks @christopher-rocks.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Great to see this report from @timewise.bsky.social. Better work design, including flexible working, has an important role to play in maintaining health and helping employers retain workers with health challenges. It's good to see the sector-specific insights, as they’re often overlooked.
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Christopher Rocks @christopher-rocks.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Helpful new analysis from the team. Increasing mental health challenges are evident across a range of data sources, but it’s a complex picture. Dr Annie Irvine’s blog unpacks some of this complexity, which isn’t always recognised in the welfare system: www.health.org.uk/features-and...
health.org.uk
Unravelling the rise in mental health-related inactivity
Dr Annie Irvine on why we need a much more holistic approach to understanding capacity in order to tackle mental health-related inactivity.
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Herman van de Werfhorst 🟥 @hermwerf.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
Financial stress makes workers less productive.
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Christopher Rocks @christopher-rocks.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Really looking forward to this discussion with a great mix of speakers. Do join us to hear how international approaches could help improve workforce health here in the UK.
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Alice Martin @alicepmartin.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
New survey finds work-life balance is more important to workers than pay (in @theguardian.com today) But the UK has some of the weakest working time protections in the OECD (see chart) - we also have an above average % employees working v. long hours www.lancaster.ac.uk/media/lancas...
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Jonathan Derbyshire @jderbyshire.ft.com · 18/01/2025
Fifty years after Keith Jarrett’s Köln concert, this programme tries to make sense of its enduring magic www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
bbc.co.uk
50 years of the Koln Concert - BBC Sounds
After 50 years of Keith Jarrett's Koln Concert Kevin le Gendre unpicks its enduring appeal
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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
A metaphor for economic policymaking in a small, open economy like Britain which I am very proud of. Feels apt to dust it off again. www.theguardian.com/books/2022/o...
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Dr Calum Carson @drcalumcarson.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
Important New Year reading here, with this final report of a project exploring regional differences in the disability employment gap. Results show strong correlation between the size of the DEG and levels of economic deprivation across an area: well worth a deep dive into the data (see👇for more).
sheffield.ac.uk
New research reveals where in Great Britain people with a disability find it hardest to be in employment
The five areas in Great Britain where disabled people are least likely to be in employment compared with non-disabled people have been revealed in a new report from the University of Sheffield.
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Christopher Rocks @christopher-rocks.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Great to see this report from the Work Foundation. Interesting findings on how important access to flexible working is for enabling people with health conditions stay in work.
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Declan Gaffney @greyskiesthinking.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Borrowing this chart from @jburnmurdoch.bsky.social to add a couple of points. Does the benefit system affect how people report *reasons* for economic inactivity in surveys? It's likely because there is evidence from cross national data that social & economic context influences responses. 1/n
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Catherine Hale @catherinehale.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Sharing my response to the #GetBritainWorking White Paper that I posted over on Linkedin in a thread. A cautious welcome: It positions the high numbers of people not working, or seeking work, for reasons of health and disability (notice I don’t use the term ‘inactive’?) as a key problem > 1/9
Flexible working for long term health conditions. A Venn diagram with FlexPlus working at the centre. The 3 intersecting circles read 'working from home', 'reduced hours' and 'worktime flexibility'
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Ben Baumberg Geiger @benbgeiger.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
"Britain’s illness-related inactivity crisis looks increasingly like a mirage" - great piece www.ft.com/content/1409.... But @jburnmurdoch.bsky.social goes wrong towards the end... 🧵
ft.com
What if the UK isn’t actually the sick man of Europe?
Britain’s illness-related inactivity crisis looks increasingly like a mirage
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Jonny Gifford @jonnygiff.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
📢New research! Investigating the case for not just more jobs but *better quality* jobs. Our IES report for the Commission for #HealthierWorkingLives finds that poor job quality threatens the health of the UK workforce. (1/2) bit.ly/3CH4uYB @employmentstudies.bsky.social
bit.ly
Exploring the interactions between job quality, industries and health | Institute for Employment Studies (IES)
How do different aspects of job quality affect employee health? This report seeks to clarify the evidence on these areas to support the Commission for Healthier Working Lives, supported by the Health ...
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Louise Murphy @louisemurphy.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Good piece, and reflects much of what we covered in a pre-election @resfoundation.bsky.social report. Policy makers have been playing ‘Whack-a-Mole’: hitting standard rates of working-age benefits, and now some of that pressure is showing up as rising claims for health-related benefits.
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