Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department plans to take to train Jobcentre Plus advisors to support working parents and carers in in-work progression under universal credit.

We have made a significant commitment to supporting people through the welfare system to seek to increase their earnings in work. We are testing a range of approaches.

This includes ongoing trials on how in-work progression can be supported by work coaches. This will help us further develop the work coach role to support in-work claimants, including working parents and Carers.

We have also put in place a substantial programme of learning and ongoing support for work coaches. All coaches receive face-to-face classroom learning which focuses on both the technical delivery steps and importantly the transformational change of delivering in-work progression, as well as consolidation post-completion.

Many of the skills that work coaches develop and utilise when working with out-of-work claimants are equally applicable to in-work claimants, and they will bring these skills to bear in addition to the extra learning.