Racing Welfare's Annual Review 2022/23

WORKFOR
WELLBEI
Over the last four years we’ve seen our Workforce Wellbeing programme (WWP) develop
into a fully bespoke Employee Assistance Programme for the horseracing industry and its
people. The award-winning programme has become the cornerstone of Racing Welfare’s
proactive and preventative support services, being accessed by 8,874 individuals during its
relatively short lifespan.
The challenges faced during the early years of the WWP have already been well-documented.
Though, as we move on from the acute demands associated with the pandemic, post-Covid
recovery remains an adjustment for racing and the country more widely. For example, it is clear
there is still an adjustment period as individuals become more comfortable returning to faceto-face
delivery of physiotherapy treatment, face-to-face counselling and training courses.
And there are new challenges faced by racing’s people as they come to terms with economic
change, affecting their day to day lives.
Beyond the pandemic, 2022 presented its own operational challenges. Our contract with
occupational health provider Team Prevent came to an end, and we sought a new service
provider for arguably one of our busiest services. In April we onboarded new supplier
Healthwork and this, of course, resulted in a transitional period for our beneficiaries and
colleagues alike. In October we said goodbye to our Head of Programmes Kay Boyden as she
moved on to pastures new, and we appointed experienced programme manager Gerry Kiernan
to head up the WWP.
Despite these challenges, we have still achieved notable success during 2022:
• We supported more than 1,200 people through Racing’s Support Line: an increase of 27%
from the previous year
• There have been almost 20,000 views of our digital support pages
• We have supported almost 400 people through Racing’s Occupational Health Service
• We have supported 126 people through racing’s Careers Advice & Training Service
(CATS)
• 75 individuals have been trained in Mental Health First Aid and Mental Health Awareness
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