Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to support disabled people with complex needs who are not eligible for the Youth Guarantee.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As set out in the Get Britain Working White Paper, we will launch a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work.
We recognise, however, that for a small minority of young people, work may never be a realistic goal. We acknowledge that we would need to include special provisions for this group and are working through how they can be best identified and supported.
The current benefit system categorises too many young people as unable to work, often leaving them without meaningful engagement or support. For most disabled young people and young people with a health condition working at some point in the near future must be a credible ambition.
The Pathways to Work Green Paper set out proposals to create a distinct and active youth phase for people aged 18 to 21 in the health and disability benefit system. The consultation closed on 30 June, and we are now carefully reviewing all responses as we develop the new support offer and our expectations of engagement.
This will build on the many interventions already, or soon to be, in place to support disabled people and people with a health condition, more broadly. This includes our new voluntary Supported Employment programme, Connect to Work, which is rolling out across England and Wales throughout 2025 and provides bespoke employment support to help people get into, and stay in, sustainable work.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend for the proposal to remove eligibility for the limited capability for work and work-related activity group from those under the age of 22 to apply to disabled adults receiving residential care.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of the Pathways to Work Green Paper consultation, the Government invited views on the proposal to raise the minimum age for accessing the Universal Credit (UC) health element to 22. The consultation closed on 30 June, and we are now considering responses. The Government’s conclusion will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the Access to Work scheme backlog.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to reducing waiting times for Access to Work and are considering the best way to deliver that for customers. We have increased the number of staff processing Access to Work claims and applications from customers who are about to start a job or who are renewing are prioritised.
The Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to get Britain Working’ Green Paper was published on 18 March. Alongside the Access to Work reform proposals introduced in the Green Paper, we are considering further options to reduce the waiting time for customers.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Royal National Institute of Blind People's "Visibly Better Employer" quality standard.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We welcome the Royal National Institute of Blind People’s initiative to encourage employers to create inclusive workplaces through the Visibly Better Employer standard to attract and retain more blind and partially sighted individuals in the workforce.
Through the Department’s Disability Confident Scheme newsletter, we have made members aware of the quality standard. The Disability Confident Scheme provides employers with the skills and knowledge to remove barriers that might be preventing disabled people and those with long term health conditions from accessing employment and allows them opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether employers will be required to produce action plans for tacking disability pay gaps under the draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, as is the case for gender pay gap reporting.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 18 March 2025, the Government launched a consultation on mandatory pay gap reporting for both disability and ethnicity. Responses to the consultation will help to shape proposals which will be included in the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, which was announced in the King’s Speech in July 2024. One of the questions we are consulting on is the potential role that action plans might play in reducing the disability pay gap. We will use the consultation responses to develop the proposed legislation, which will include considering whether there should be a requirement for large employers to produce action plans.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the average time taken to process applications to Access to Work from applicants in employment.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to reducing waiting times for new applications for Access to Work and are considering the best way to deliver that for customers. We have increased the number of staff processing Access to Work claims, applications from customers who are about to start a job or who are renewing claims are prioritised.
The Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to get Britain Working’ Green Paper was published on 18 March. Alongside the Access to Work reform proposals introduced in the Green Paper, we are considering further options to reduce the waiting time for customers.
From April 2024 to February 2025, the average waiting time from initial date of contact to a decision being made stands at 56.9 days.
Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of Access to Work in supporting people with disabilities and long-term health conditions to enter and stay in work.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To assess the role of Access to Work in supporting people with disabilities and long-term health conditions to enter and stay in work, the Department commissioned qualitative evaluations of Access to Work in 2018 and 2009.
The 2018 evaluation ‘Access to Work: Qualitative research with applicants, employers and delivery staff’ gathered evidence on the value of Access to Work to employers and employees.
The 2009 evaluation: ‘Evaluation of Access to Work: Core Evaluation’ explored customer, employer, assessor and other views relating to: marketing and awareness, application process, assessments, outcomes, impact and areas for improvement.
Also in 2018, the Department commissioned NatCen to explore the feasibility of evaluating the impacts of AtW: ‘Feasibility of evaluating the impact of the Access to Work programme' . The report uncovered several challenges, mainly around identifying an appropriate counterfactual and the difficulties in constructing a comparison group. We therefore face challenges with conducting an impact evaluation of AtW.
We are consulting on the future of the AtW scheme in the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper - GOV.UK,
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in establishing the "Get Britain Working" disability panel; and whether it will include representation from people with a range of disabilities, including sight loss.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is committed to championing the voices of disabled people and taking an open and collaborative approach to engagement. As part of wider efforts to put disabled voices at the heart of policy, the Get Britain Working White Paper announced a commitment to establishing a panel to consult disabled people.
We are working to establish the Disability Advisory Panel and are undertaking the due process required to ensure the panel is set up in the most accessible and inclusive way. The panel will consist of people who have lived experience of disability, and it will include representation from people with a range of disabilities.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether people with disabilities who are not in receipt of out of work benefits are eligible to receive support to return to work from Job Centre Plus coaches; if not, why not; and what plans they have to extend the provision of such support to those receiving disability related benefits including personal independence payments.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We want everyone who can work to get into and get on in work, and for all people with disabilities to enjoy independence, control and dignity.
This is why our new jobs and careers service will be open to all, not just claimants. The digital offer puts a Jobcentre in everybody’s pocket, offering tailored and personalised support which recognises that people are individuals with different support needs.
Access to the right work and health support in the right place and at the right time is key. Our Get Britain Working reforms will empower local areas to design a joined-up work, health and skills offer that meets the needs of local people whilst our Work Well pilots provide holistic support for those facing health-related barriers to employment that are open to all, regardless of whether they’re in receipt of benefits or not.
The Health Transformation Programme is modernising health and disability benefit services and aims to support individuals with a disability or health condition to move closer or into the labour market. The Programme is bringing a small number of job centre staff and health care professionals together to build evidence around what effective employment support looks like for people claiming Personal Independence Payments.
We look forward to working with stakeholders on the detailed policy development and implementation of these reforms, including through our new Disability Panel.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many assessors trained and qualified in autism will work in each of the five regions under the Department for Work and Pension's Health Assessment Advisory Service.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department and the Health Assessment Advisory Service (HAAS) are fully committed to supporting those with mental health conditions.
All health professionals (HPs) within the five regions of HAAS are fully qualified in their health discipline and have passed strict recruitment and experience criteria. They must also be registered with a relevant regulatory body such as the General Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, Health and Care Professions Council or European Economic Area equivalent. The department has not specified that HAAS employ HPs who are specialists in specific conditions or impairments. Instead, the focus is on ensuring they are experts in disability analysis, focusing on the effects of health conditions and impairments on the claimant’s daily life.
All HPs receive comprehensive training in the functional assessment of mental health conditions and disabilities, including Autism. From 09 September 2024 the educational material for all HAAS HPs was provided by DWP. As part of our review, we identified best practice in the NHS and have implemented the Oliver McGowan training as part of the mandatory training requirements for every HP. This training is recognised to be of significant value to HPs in ensuring they have the skills and knowledge to provide safe, informed, and compassionate assessments to claimants with autism and learning disabilities. This is in addition to our comprehensive education programme for HPs.
Following the completion of core training to undertake the role, HPs will engage in an annual training programme, and HAAS has been provided with materials (such as Continual Professional Development modules) to support the development of their HPs where learning needs are identified. This approach ensures that both service wide and individual training needs are met and will be of benefit to those with neurodiversity where applicable.