GUIDE

Work and health service guide

WorkWell funding reached every integrated care board in April 2026, delivery starts in November, and the DWP data return is the part everyone is dreading. The exam question is not "did you spend the funding": it is whether you can show, with evidence DWP and your board will accept, that you found the people with health barriers to work, filled your provision, and changed what happened next.

This guide answers it in six practical steps. Each step names the question you will be asked, sets out the external evidence, and adds one reality check from Joy's published evidence base: over 10,700 referrals through named work and health services in the last 12 months (WorkWell, Connect to Work, Trailblazers, IPS and Work and Health Programme), 175 live work and health services across the named schemes, and 99.9% of fit-note clients already certified before their referral, so the consultation where the note is signed is the intervention window.

What you get

• Six steps, from sizing the flow to the DWP return to honest measurement
• The external evidence for each step, fully cited to primary sources
• Joy reality checks, every figure carrying its own provenance note
• A quarter-by-quarter checklist for the first 12 months