With £18m out of a total £125m in funding, South Yorkshire will work with over 7,800 people and aim to get 3,000 to into or stay in employment.

Work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall said: ‘For too long, whole areas of the UK have been written off and deprived of investment. We are turning the tide on this – as we believe in the potential of every single person across our country and that they deserve to benefit from the security and dignity that good work affords.'

South Yorkshire plans a dedicated new service working with employers to hire those with health conditions, including a new ‘triage' system to make it quicker and easier to connect people to employment, health and skills support. 

The work will include preventing people falling out of work completely due to ill health through an NHS programme and working with people with conditions ranging from cardiovascular disease to diabetes.

This could include arranging voluntary work as a stepping stone to paid employment or helping people receive the right treatment early so they can remain in a job.

The trailblazer programmes are part of the Government's wider efforts to reach an 80% employment rate, which includes a £1bn investment in helping disabled people and those with long-term health conditions who can work into work and an overhaul of Jobcentres to make sure they meet the needs of employers.

Through their new initiatives, South Yorkshire aims to reduce inactivity from 25.5% in 2023 to under 20% by the end of 2029 – equivalent to helping 40,000 people across the area.

South Yorkshire marks one of nine inactivity trailblazers going live across England and Wales. In the coming weeks, similar schemes will launch in: Greater Manchester, North East, York and North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Wales; and three in London (West London, South London and Local London). 

In addition, eight youth trailblazer areas will also be set up across mayoral authorities in England with £45m funding in the coming weeks, to ensure all 18–21-year-olds have access to education, training and employment opportunities.  

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: ‘This new funding enables local areas to take a whole-system approach to prevent people falling out of work and to address the root causes of economic inactivity.

‘ICSs are looking forward to continuing to work with their local partners to reduce economic inactivity through their 'Get Britain Working' plans.'