Two landmark reports in one day: What they mean for UK reward and benefit leaders

On November 5th 2025, two major government publications landed that are set to reshape the future of workplace wellbeing and employee benefits in the UK: HM Treasury’s Financial Inclusion Strategy and Sir Charlie Mayfield’s Keep Britain Working Review.

Released within hours of each other, these reports signal a coordinated national push to improve financial resilience and tackle health-related economic inactivity – both reports placing employers at the heart of the solution. The combined reports reference ‘employers’ almost 250 times, signaling how critical the government sees the workplace in solving some of the nation’s challenges.

Strategy 1: Financial Inclusion Strategy: A new era for workplace financial wellbeing

The Treasury’s strategy outlines six pillars – digital inclusion, savings, insurance, access to credit, problem debt, and financial education. Crucially, it positions employers as central actors, and calls for products like expanded payroll savings schemes, Earned Wage Access (EWA), and income protection benefits.

For reward leaders, this is a clear mandate:

• Payroll savings and auto-enrolment schemes are now recognized as national tools to build financial buffers for employees. Benifex customer Bupa has been a key player in working with the government to establish the advantages of this employee benefit.
• Earned Wage Access products are endorsed for their role in reducing reliance on high-cost credit and smoothing income volatility – especially for shift and gig workers.
• Employee benefits like income protection are highlighted as essential to national resilience, going beyond statutory sick pay to support long-term wellbeing.

Strategy 2: Keep Britain Working Review: Health, work and shared responsibility

Sir Charlie Mayfield’s much anticipated review addresses the UK’s rising economic inactivity due to ill-health and disability. With over 1 in 5 working-age adults out of the workforce, the report calls for a “new deal” between employers, employees, and government. Again, Benifex customers like Boots, BT, Centrica and Deloitte were key to the conversations that led to this report.

Key recommendations include:

• A Healthy Working Lifecycle standard to reduce sickness absence and improve return-to-work rates.
• A Workplace Health Intelligence Unit to gather data and guide incentives.
• Employer-led Vanguards to pilot workplace health reforms.

The review makes it clear: employers must lead on prevention, early intervention, and rehabilitation. It also recognizes that many already invest heavily in wellbeing, but lack clarity on what works. The government will now support this with certified standards and targeted incentives.

What this means for Reward & Benefit leaders

Together, I think these reports mark a turning point. For almost two years, I have been working closely with MPs, charities, lobby groups and Benifex customers in my role as Chair of the Policy Liaison Group (PLG) on workplace wellbeing. We have held many roundtables in the Houses of Parliament, and I have spoken too at the House of Lords on these issues.

What is clear is that the current UK government intends to lean heavily on the work of employers to achieve national improvements in people’s lives. Financial wellbeing and workplace health are no longer peripheral; they are now strategic imperatives backed by national policy.

Reward and benefit leaders should:

• Audit current employee benefits against the new national priorities. Focus should be on ensuring the right provisions are in place in advance of the recommendations becoming commonplace. This means reviewing what pre-and post-sickness support is available (wellbeing apps, EAP, Occupational Health).
• Engage with EWA providers to support income smoothing and reduce financial stress.
• Embed financial wellbeing as a core workplace competency, aligning with Treasury’s push for money guidance. Ensuring benefit schemes offer a variety of support from debt to savings, financial education to long term planning.

A Call to Action

These twin publications are more than policy; they’re a call to action. The UK government has laid out a framework for change and they will expect employers to respond.

As Chair of the Policy Liaison Group on Workplace Wellbeing, and as Chief Innovation Officer at Benifex, I’ve seen first-hand how employers are already proactively leading the way. With the right strategy, reward and benefit leaders can not only support their people but help build a more resilient, inclusive economy – and that’s quite exciting.