lordswrans/lordswrans2025-10-31 conversation_17
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-31)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-10-31 conversation_17

Baroness Alexander of Cleveden:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support people with health conditions into work. \p Baroness Sherlock: Good work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched last November will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate.

Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems.

Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell.

It is also recognised that employers play an important role in addressing health and disability. To build on this, the DWP and DHSC Joint Work & Health Directorate (JWHD) is facilitating “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review of the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces. The lead reviewer, Sir Charlie Mayfield, is expected to bring forward recommendations in Autumn 2025.

The 10 Year Health Plan, published in July, stated our intention to break down barriers to opportunity by delivering the holistic support that people need to access and thrive in employment by ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. The Plan sets out the vision for what good joined-up care looks like for people with a combination of health and care needs, including for disabled people. Furthermore, it outlines how the neighbourhood health service will join up support from across the work, health and skills systems to help address the multiple complex challenges that often stop people finding and staying in work.

This Government is committed to removing the barriers to work. We want to give people the confidence that working will not trigger a reassessment and a potential loss of benefits. That is why for people receiving Universal Credit , PIP (in England and Wales), or New Style Employment and Support Allowance we are introducing legislation that guarantees that trying work, in and of itself, will not be considered a relevant change of circumstance that will trigger a PIP award review or WCA reassessment.

Our Pathways to Work support offer will ensure a coherent and navigable offer of support, building on and bringing together initiatives such as Connect to Work, WorkWell and local Trailblazers. In our March Green Paper, we set-out our Pathways to Work Guarantee. We are building towards a guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for all disabled people and those with health conditions on out of work benefits. We anticipate that the Pathways to Work Guarantee once fully rolled out will include: (i) A support conversation that will help identify the best next steps, including a range of personalised and more intensive support; (ii) One-to-one caseworker support – this will build on evidence from recent pilot schemes, which has shown that, for some people, offering regular in-depth personalised appointments with a consistent advisor can help people who are ready to move towards or into work; (iii) Specialist longer-term work, health and skills support for those who are ready – building on evidence from programmes like the Work and Health Programme, Work Choice, Individual Placement and Support for those with severe mental illness or substance dependency, and evidence from successful skills training; (iv) Periodic engagement for people who are not yet ready for more work-focused engagement, the content and frequency depending on individual need, followed by signposting, if and when ready, onto other support.