Beth Winter: All Documents

Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 15 May 2024
No Recourse to Public Funds

Speech Link

View all Beth Winter (Lab - Cynon Valley) contributions to the debate on: No Recourse to Public Funds

Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 14 May 2024
Oral Answers to Questions

Speech Link

View all Beth Winter (Lab - Cynon Valley) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions

Division Vote (Commons)
13 May 2024 - Risk-based Exclusion - View Vote Context
Beth Winter (Lab) voted Aye - in line with the party majority and in line with the House
One of 121 Labour Aye votes vs 0 Labour No votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 170 Noes - 169

Written Question

Statutory Sick Pay

Monday 13th May 2024

Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to increase statutory sick pay in line with the living wage.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government has already increased the rate of SSP this year, in April the rate of SSP was increased by 6.7% to £116.75. This represents a £20 per week increase in the rate of SSP since 2021.

SSP is just one part of our welfare safety net and our wider Government offer to support people in times of need. Anybody who is on a low level of income during the period that they are sick and who requires further financial support may be able to claim Universal Credit, depending on their personal circumstances.

Written Question

Employment: Disability

Monday 13th May 2024

Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to close the disability employment gap.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Good work is generally good for health. This is why in the Health and Disability White Paper the Government reaffirmed its commitment to close the disability employment gap and stated its intention to set a new disability employment ambition.

The latest figures, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for October to December 2023, showed that he disability employment gap was 27.9 percentage points. This was a decrease of 1.9 percentage points on the year. However, the ONS have advised caution when interpreting short-term changes due to the recent volatility in the data.

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. The Government therefore has an ambitious programme of initiatives to support disabled people and people with health conditions to start, stay and succeed in work. These include:

The Work and Health Programme providing tailored and personalised support for disabled people;
Access to Work grants helping towards extra costs of working beyond standard reasonable adjustments;
Disability Confident encouraging employers to think differently about disability and health, and to take positive action to address the issues disabled employees face in the workplace;
A digital information service for employers providing better integrated and tailored guidance on supporting health and disability in the workplace;
Increasing access to Occupational Health, including the testing of financial incentives for small and medium-sized enterprises and the self-employed;
Additional Work Coach support in Jobcentres for disabled people and people with health conditions to help them move towards and in to work;
Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres offering advice and expertise on how to help disabled people and people with health conditions into work;
Work in partnership between the DWP and health systems, including:

o Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, which combines psychological treatment and employment support for people with mental health conditions; and

o The Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care programme, a Supported Employment model (place, train and maintain) delivered in health settings, aimed at people with physical or common mental health disabilities to support them to access paid jobs in the open labour market;

Building on this, we announced significant additional investment during the 2023 fiscal events. Alongside the delivery of our existing initiatives, we are now focused on delivering this package which includes:

A new voluntary employment programme called Universal Support (US) for 100,000 people per year when fully rolled out in England and Wales. This programme will provide up to a year of ongoing wraparound support for people with health conditions to stay and succeed in work;
WorkWell, which will bring together the NHS, local authorities and other partners, in collaboration with jobcentres, to provide light touch work and health support for approximately 60,000 people. The WorkWell services will be in place from autumn 2024 and will be delivered in 15 pilot areas;
Building on the extension of the certification of the fit notes to a wider range of healthcare professions, we are exploring new ways of providing individuals receiving a fit note with timely access to work and health support. Through a Call for Evidence we are currently seeking views from those with lived experiences, healthcare professionals and employers;
Introducing Employment Advisors to Musculoskeletal Conditions (MSK) services in England, helping individuals with MSK conditions to return to or remain in employment (work in partnership between DWP and health systems); and
Publishing the Government response to the Occupational Health: Working Better consultation. This included establishing an expert group to support the development of the voluntary national baseline for Occupational Health provision

From 2025, we are reforming the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) to reflect new flexibilities in the labour market and greater employment opportunities for disabled people and people with health conditions, whilst maintaining protections for those with the most significant conditions. Alongside these changes, a new Chance to Work Guarantee will effectively remove the WCA for most existing claimants who have already been assessed without work-related requirements removing the fear of reassessment and giving this group the confidence to try work.

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