Welfare Reform

Cat Eccles Excerpts
Tuesday 18th March 2025

(2 days, 23 hours ago)

Commons Chamber
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Liz Kendall Portrait Liz Kendall
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We are focusing precisely on the root causes. We are focusing on what more we can do to change the world of work, get people back to health and back to work and give them the skills that they need, and on tackling the disincentives in the benefits system. I am not interested in tinkering around; it is too important for people, and life is short. I want to get it right, tackle the root causes, and put the country on a pathway to success.

Cat Eccles Portrait Cat Eccles (Stourbridge) (Lab)
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Many organisations, including our own NHS, use punitive capability processes when scoring the illnesses of people who become sick while in work, which causes additional stress to those who need support the most. How will the Government help employers to ensure that their employees are supported properly when they experience ill health?

Liz Kendall Portrait Liz Kendall
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Our Keep Britain Working review, led by the former John Lewis boss Sir Charlie Mayfield, is dealing with precisely that issue: what more we can do to help employers to give sick and disabled people more opportunities to obtain work and stay in work.