A £5.9 million grant has been announced to help thousands of people with health conditions find or stay in work by South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard.

Following discussions with the Government to stop the trailblazing Working Win scheme from being scrapped, it’s expected that a further 3,000 people with physical or mental health conditions will be supported until March 2025.

Mr Coppard said: “When I was elected as South Yorkshire’s Mayor, I said I’d do what I could to make South Yorkshire the healthiest region in the country, and Working Win is a great example of how we’re working to tackle health inequalities.

“Too many people are held back by poor health in South Yorkshire, and are unable to stay in work or find new jobs. Working Win has been genuinely life-changing for thousands of people here, so I’m so really pleased our campaigning efforts have paid off and it’s been given further funding to keep going, and will now help thousands more people.”

Working Win supports people aged 18 or over, who live in Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster or Barnsley, and who have a health condition, to find and stay in employment.

The programme has already supported more than 6,500 people, and the funding will mean that the current instalment can continue to benefit participants until June 2023. 

The new funding, secured by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA), is part of the Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) initiative.

The aim of the IPSPC initiative is to promote inclusive growth by helping to achieve a reduction in health inequalities through supporting people to access employment.

Richard Stubbs, Chair of the South Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “Fifteen million days of work a year are lost due to stress, anxiety and depression alone. This leads to businesses losing productivity and causes reduced quality of life for individuals.

“Working Win can help by supporting those out of work or off sick with free coaching to get them to a better place in their employment journey. This brings benefits to them, to employers and to the wider community.”

For more information or to register for support, visit the Working-Win page.