Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has had discussions with employers on (a) the adequacy of employer sick pay top-up schemes and (b) their role in supporting workers with long-term health conditions.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government has engaged extensively, including with employers, on the impact of our plan to strengthen Statutory Sick Pay. While employers can choose to go further than their statutory requirements and provide more financial support to their employees when they are sick, and around 60% of all employees report they are eligible for this extra support, our engagement has not included the adequacy of contractual or occupational sick pay schemes. Those who need additional financial support while off sick are able to claim more help through the welfare system such as Universal Credit, depending on their individual circumstances.
In our Get Britain Working White Paper, published November 2024, we committed support for employers to recruit, retain, and develop staff. As part of that, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade have asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead ‘Keep Britain Working’, an independent review to consider how best to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more people with health conditions and disabilities, promote healthy workplaces, and support more people to stay in or return to work from periods of sickness absence.
Following the discovery publication in March 2025, Sir Charlie and the review team engaged with a broad range of stakeholders, including employers. In total there were over 500 individual submissions and over 150 meetings and events through which evidence was submitted. Sir Charlie Mayfield will deliver a final report with recommendations in the autumn.
The Disability Confident (DC) Scheme encourages employers to create disability inclusive workplaces and to support disabled people to get work and get on in work. It provides employers with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace and to take positive action to address the issues disabled employees face.
Officials have been discussing with stakeholders, including employers, the options for making the DC scheme criteria more robust. The Government is working towards announcing next steps for improving the scheme later this autumn
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has for the provision of further information on the additional premium provided to claimants for the planned Universal Credit health element for the most severe, life-long health conditions.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We will ensure that those with the most severe, life-long health conditions, who will never be able to work, will see their incomes protected. We will also ensure this group face no future reassessment. We will set out further information on this in due course.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to consult with stakeholders on the potential (a) duration and (b) level of support available in relation to her Department's proposals for unemployment insurance.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are consulting on plans for a new “Unemployment Insurance” as part of the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper. As part of this, we are running a number of accessible virtual and face-to-face events on the Green Paper to hear from stakeholders, including disabled people and their representative organisations, directly. More information on these events and registration are available on the official consultation page on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to amend the chemical classification assessments for (a) lithium carbonate, (b) lithium hydroxide, and (c) lithium chloride products.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
These three lithium substances (lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide and lithium chloride) do not currently have mandatory classification and labelling in Great Britain (GB). Health and Safety Executive (HSE) specialists are considering the need to evaluate the available data using the Article 37A process under the GB Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation following publication of the Agency Opinion by HSE in August 2023 to determine whether mandatory classification and labelling is warranted.