The Get Hull and East Yorkshire Working Plan is the new Combined Authority’s employment and health strategy. It's a key document in the Mayor’s approach to getting residents in our region into meaningful work, which can improve their earning potential and ensure they stay working for as long as possible.
Nationally, the Get Britain Working White Paper sets the expectation that local areas will reduce economic inactivity and improve earnings, with the aim of achieving an 80 per cent employment rate in every part of the country.
The Combined Authority developed the first edition of the plan for Hull and East Yorkshire in partnership with the NHS, local authorities, Jobcentre Plus, employers, and the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector. It aims to provide a framework for change in health and employability to address existing delivery challenges.
The challenges
In Hull and East Yorkshire, we have identified a number of current delivery challenges -
- Provision appears fragmented to both residents and employers.
- Employer conversion from training to sustained job starts is uneven, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises.
- Health-to-work pathways are not yet fully integrated with NHS services
- Youth transitions lack a coherent ladder from supported internships to apprenticeships and entry-level bootcamps.
- Performance reporting varies across funding bodies, hindering effective evaluation.
Our response
The Get Hull and East Yorkshire Working Plan sets out a practical response to these challenges.
1. Integrate work and health
Establish joint governance under the Combined Authority, align commissioning across the Integrated Care Board, councils, the Department for Work and Pensions and providers, and develop shared data systems and triage so that individuals experience a single point of access.
2. Increase participation and earnings
Align employability programmes across both authorities and target devolved skills budgets towards priority sectors. Prepare a Youth Guarantee pilot to reverse the rise level of people not in education, employment or training.
3. Engage with employers
Co-design a Good Work Charter which defines healthy workplace standards and develop an all-age careers pathway with guaranteed interviews where feasible. Build a unified employer engagement offer to support growth in Freeport, health and care, logistics and advanced manufacturing sectors.
Next steps
Our response will be implemented through a long-term plan and 12-month programme of action.
Immediate priorities set out in the Get Hull and East Yorkshire Working Plan include -
- Completion of the Local Growth Plan and Skills and Work Strategy.
- Delivery of system-wide roundtables in autumn 2025.
- Publication of a shared health and employment dashboard.
- Establishment of common referral and sustainment standards.
A second edition of this plan will be produced in April 2026 to embed the finalised strategies and funding framework.