Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people completed the Restart scheme since its establishment; and how many of those people were sanctioned while on the Restart scheme in (a) York and (b) the UK.

The Restart Scheme is delivered over 12 Contract Package Areas (CPAs) throughout England and Wales. CPA2a encompasses Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, County Durham, Teesside, North Yorkshire, East Yorkshire, North and Northeast Lincolnshire. The scheme offers participants up to 12 months of support to move into sustained employment. Participants complete the scheme at the end of the 12 months support period but can do it sooner if they achieve a job outcome prior to that point.

A job outcome is achieved when a participant either:

• Earns the equivalent of working 16 hours per week for 26 weeks at the National Living Wage (25+)
• Has 6 months in gainful self-employment.

The table below shows the numbers of starts on the scheme, and of those starts the numbers so far of: participants who are completers, job outcomes, and completers without an outcome yet, in CPA2a and nationally.

Source: DWP Management Information

Information regarding how many of those people were sanctioned while on the Restart Scheme cannot be provided because this information is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Please Note:

Starts on the scheme is the number of people who have had their first initial appointment with a Restart provider, since the scheme started in June 2021.

Total completers so far is the number of participants who have either achieved a job outcome or have completed 12 months on the scheme and have not yet achieved a job outcome. As more time elapses more of these starts will complete.

Job outcomes achieved so far is the cumulative number of participants who have achieved a job outcome so far. Many starts who have started more recently will not yet have had time to achieve an outcome, therefore, as more time elapses more job outcomes will be achieved from these starts.

Completers without a job outcome so far is the number of participants who have completed 12 months on the scheme but who have not yet achieved a job outcome. Participants have 18 months in which to achieve a job outcome after starting on the scheme and so some of this group may still go on to achieve a job outcome. Therefore, the number of completers without a job outcome from these starts will reduce.

All numbers are cumulative and contemporary as of 28 February 2023.

Volumes are rounded and therefore may not sum exactly.