Employment: Arthritis

(asked on 23rd March 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she will take to help ensure that people with arthritis can stay in work.


Answered by
Tom Pursglove Portrait
Tom Pursglove
This question was answered on 29th March 2023

A range of Government initiatives are supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including arthritis, to start, stay, and succeed in work.

These include:

  • Increasing Work Coach support in Jobcentres for people with health conditions receiving Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance;
  • Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres offering advice and expertise on how to help disabled people and people with health conditions into work;
  • The Work and Health Programme and Intensive Personalised Employment Support, providing tailored and personalised support for participants;
  • Access to Work grants 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;
  • The Information and Advice Service, providing better integrated and tailored guidance on supporting and managing health and disability in the workplace; and
  • Support in partnership between the DWP and the health system.

To tackle rising economic inactivity due to long-term sickness, we announced a wide-reaching package at the Spring Budget to support disabled people and people with health conditions to work. New investment will provide faster access to joined-up work and health support, including for mental health and musculoskeletal conditions; the two leading causes of economic inactivity due to long term sickness.

Reticulating Splines