Employment: Epilepsy

(asked on 2nd March 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of people with epilepsy entering employment.


Answered by
Justin Tomlinson Portrait
Justin Tomlinson
This question was answered on 10th March 2021

The Government has put in place a range of measures to support disabled people and people with long term health conditions, including those with epilepsy, to enter and stay in work. During the Covid-19 outbreak, we have made changes to ensure disabled people have still been able to access specialist employment support.

We have two large-scale nationally contracted programmes that support disabled people:

  • The Work and Health Programme was launched in 2017 throughout England and Wales for people who expect to find work within 12 months. It enables participants to receive coordinated and person-centred support from local services, and provides targeted support for disabled people, as defined in the Equality Act 2010, who can volunteer to join the programme at any time. It also provides extra tailored support to find employment for other groups, including long term unemployed people.

  • IPES launched with the first referrals on 2 December 2019 and is now in place across England and Wales. It is a voluntary programme designed to help disabled people with more complex needs or barriers, who want to work but also require specialist support to achieve their goal of sustained employment. This includes people with Autistic Spectrum conditions, mental health issues, substance abuse, or history of sensory impairments, learning difficulties or recurring and fluctuating health conditions. IPES is expected to provide support for around 2,500 starts a year for four years, totalling 10,000 on the programme.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, we provided this support remotely and made these programmes easier to access by allowing self-referrals as well as referrals through work coaches.

Additionally, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we introduced the Work and Health Programme Job Entry: Targeted Support (JETS) which went live across Wales and England this Autumn and provides light touch employment support which will complement the provision already available for disabled people under the Work and Health Programme. We will protect funding and capacity for helping disabled people and priority disadvantaged groups.

Alongside provision aimed at individuals, we continue to support employers to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace through the Disability Confident scheme. The scheme was designed as a journey with three levels. All employers start at Level 1, progressing through the scheme at their own pace.

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