A new index which benchmarks businesses’ health provision is launched today by the CBI to help tackle the record long-term sickness absence levels restricting the UK’s productivity and undermining economic growth ambitions. Data shows the UK loses 131 million working days a year to ill-health, costing the nation around £180billion in GDP. The ONS is today due to publish new data that further reinforces the need to address the number of people leaving the labour market through ill health. The labour shortages this creates has a damaging impact on productivity; growing the economy will be impossible without a healthy population. With workplaces known to be an effective influencer of health behaviours, the CBI – working with Business for Health and supported by the NHS and HM Government – is today launching a first iteration of its Work Health Index (WHI) to benchmark private sector health provision across the economy. The WHI will give all businesses the opportunity to diagnose the strength of their health offer and benchmark it against peers. It will cover all workplace policies, practices and provision designed to support employee health and wellbeing, from cycle to work schemes to counselling to parental leave policies. In the immediate term, it will help firms understand their competitiveness and enhance their employee value proposition. In the longer term, it should help businesses to create better work environments and support better health outcomes across the working age population – resulting in elevated workplace productivity. Brian McBride, CBI president, said: “Labour market resilience is a precondition to growth. Without healthy, productive employees, the UK economy will be unable to achieve the growth it sorely needs. “Businesses understand the link between health and wealth, and have a major role to play. While the NHS continues to serve us all in our moments of immediate need, employers across the UK have a golden window emerging from the pandemic to lean into long-term measures which enhance employee health and wellbeing. “With the UK staring down a fiscally constrained period, the moment to boost the UK’s preventative health model is now. The Work Health Index is here to help achieve just that.” With workforce health higher than ever before on the business agenda in the wake of the pandemic, the CBI believes this is the ideal time to launch this partnership between industry, Government and the health service. By uniting these stakeholders, the CBI believes it can further grow businesses’ appreciation of employee wellbeing as an investment rather than a cost. The next steps will see the CBI’s Health team working closely with partners across Government and the health service, and continuing its strategic partnership with Business for Health to bring the Work Health Index through private sector testing to public usage in 2023. Tom Pursglove MP, Minister for Disabled People, said: “It is clear a healthier, more productive workforce is key to driving growth and tackling inactivity. Government and employers must work together to unlock talent from those who may be facing health barriers. “We also know that being in work boosts wellbeing, and that is why our initiatives including additional Work Coach time are supporting people with health conditions into work. “We’re building on this with schemes like our new £6.4 million online service giving employers free advice and guidance to support staff with health issues to stay in, or return to, work. We are delighted to support the CBI’s Work Health Index which complements this by providing employers with the tools they need to build healthier, more inclusive workforces.” Minister for Primary Care and Public Health Neil O’Brien said: “A healthy and resilient workforce is vital for the economy of our nation, and any steps employers make to improve the health and wellbeing of their staff are commended. “We are committed to doing everything we can to level-up health and care across the country, and the CBI’s Work Health Index provides a great example of using data to drive employer action to improve the health of their workforce.” John Godfrey, Business for Health Chair, said: “Business has a huge role in public health: as employers, as providers of healthy goods and services and as drivers of healthy local economies. “This Index with the support of the CBI starts to tackle the first of these. Business is shifting the dial on climate, it is in our interest to do the same on health.”

General manager at PD Ports Roy Merryweather, logistics manager at PD Ports Jen Taylor, integrated management systems director Sharon Smith, director portcentric logistics at PD Ports Ian Johnson, managing director at Barrett Steel Richard Gawler, group operations director at Barrett Steel John Childs, director at Barrett Steel Andy Warcup, and group purchasing director at Barrett Steel Guy Barrett PD Ports is delighted to be supporting valued customer Barrett Steel through an exciting period of growth with the build of a 200,000sq.ft. dedicated steel distribution centre at its Groveport site in North Lincolnshire. This marks the start of a new long-term contract that will take the partnership into 2040 and beyond. The £10 million facility will not only support the expansion of Barrett’s footprint on the Humber but will be further boosted by additional investment from the port operator to double the size of its dedicated transport fleet. Together, this will strengthen Barrett’s national distribution network and allow for just-in-time deliveries to be made across the UK. Groveport, a 190 acre site and the largest in PD Ports’ Humber Cluster, has continued to act as a central steel distribution hub for longstanding customer Barrett Steel and serves as the ideal location for the new facility, the port group’s largest investment on the Humber in decades. Geoff Lippitt, Chief Commercial Officer at PD Ports, was delighted to announce the project. He said: “The new Barrett Steel facility is a huge milestone for PD Ports at Groveport. This marks the largest single piece of investment in the site since we first acquired it back in 2015 and demonstrates our intentions to position Groveport as the UK’s leading steel handling hub for steel sourced both domestically and internationally.” The state-of-the-art warehouse has also been instrumental for both parties in continuing to realise their shared sustainability targets – it is the first building in the UK to be constructed in ‘XCarb’ steel – steel made using 100% recycled content and 100% renewable energy – supplied by fellow PD Ports customer, ArcelorMittal. It is also primed to be upgraded with the addition of solar panels in the future. Geoff added: “As a business, we are constantly striving to reduce our industrial impact on the environment and have ambitious decarbonisation targets to reach net zero. This innovative warehouse is a fantastic example of how we can utilise lower carbon materials in order to reduce emissions across the supply chain.” As a proud, sixth generation family-owned business, Barrett Steel has been a leading steel stockholder and processor for over 150 years with a rich heritage. With over 30 sites nationwide, this new facility is a huge mark of intention from the company to remain at the forefront of the UK steel industry. Guy Barrett, Group Purchasing Director at Barrett Steel, commented: “This new facility will increase our capacity and ability to offer a just in time solution for steel fabricators across the UK. “Being able to deliver the project using a low embodied carbon, the first of its kind in the UK, not only demonstrates our commitment to our own net zero goals but also showcases a tangible solution to the questions around sustainability currently facing the industry. “We are delighted to be continuing our longstanding relationship with PD Ports on this ground-breaking project.”

Engineering consultancy Futureserv, which has a presence in Leeds, is set to join a growing number of employee-owned businesses across the UK, as it announced that its team of 60+ employees have taken a stake in the business, transferring ownership to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT). The trust will hold the shares on behalf of the company’s employees, with its founders, Craig and David Cleary, retaining a minority stake. Founded in 2010, Futureserv is a building services design and consultancy practice providing mechanical, electrical, public health and vertical transportation advice to construction, facilities and property professionals across all sectors of the built environment. Projects it has advised on include New Victoria residential towers, redevelopment of Hanover House and St Johns Towers in Manchester; The Central Village redevelopment and the University of Liverpool’s Yoko Ono Lennon Centre in Liverpool; and over a million square feet at the new Aire Park development in Leeds City Centre. Over the past decade the business has grown considerably. In 2014 it opened a second office in Old Hall Street, Liverpool, where it now has 20 staff, and in 2018 opened its first office in Leeds, where it now has 14 people. Keith Melling and Victoria Bromiley from Napthens solicitors provided legal advice on the transfer in ownership, whilst Azets, led by Jenny Pape and Tim Mills with support from Amy Braithwaite, provided tax and corporate finance. HSBC provided a senior debt facility to support the transaction. Craig Cleary, founder at Futureserv, said: “Today marks a new chapter in Futureserv’s history. Ever since our first hires joined the business, we have retained a real sense of family across Futureserv, so it felt a natural next step in our journey to transfer to employee ownership. “This model gives everyone the opportunity to take a stake in the business’s future and feel a real sense of ownership of Futureserv, from our staff through to our partners and clients. I’d like to share thanks to our senior leadership team and all our staff, as well as Napthens, Azets and HSBC, for their support throughout this process.” Dave Cleary, founder at Futureserv, said:. “As a building services consultancy, our greatest asset will always be our talented team of engineers and support staff. Moving to an employee owned business will ensure that Futureserv’s continued success provides benefits for all and also help attract the brightest, forward thinking candidates in the future. “Over the last 12 years witnessing the company grow to over 60 staff across three office locations has been incredible, the new structure provides both a succession plan and opens up clear opportunities for career progression. “I would like to congratulate all our colleagues at Futureserv on achieving this very significant milestone with special thanks to our advisers for assisting us along the exciting journey to become an employee owned company.” Keith Melling, head of corporate and partner at Napthens, said: “David and Craig have done a remarkable job with Futureserv over the past twelve years and it’s inspiring to see the team they have built over that time take the reins. “Employee ownership is an increasingly popular option for owners looking to pass the business they have built from scratch into trusted hands. As a firm, we are speaking with more owner-managed businesses about the prospect, with the model having considerable cross-sector appeal.” Jenny Pape, tax partner at Azets, said: “Futureserv is a business exceptionally well-suited for employee ownership, being an organisation with a strong culture, firmly established values, and an emphasis on the quality of its people. It has been a privilege to assist Craig and David with this significant transition and I am confident that the company has a bright future as an employee-owned business.”