Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support her Department has provided to help people with arthritis to (a) remain in and (b) return to work.

Good work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Disabled people and people with health conditions, including arthritis, are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual including through Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care.

Building on our WorkWell, Employment Advisers in Talking Therapies and Connect to Work programmes, we will ensure people with a health condition have access to the holistic support they need. In the Government’s Pathways to Work Green Paper, we further committed to developing a support guarantee, so that disabled people and those with a health condition get the work, health and skills support they need to access and thrive in employment.

And we are delivering the biggest investment in support for disabled people and people with health conditions in at least a generation. Our support guarantee announced as part of the Green Paper is backed up by £2.2bn over four years, including £200m in 2026/27 when our benefit changes begin to take effect and, as announced in the statement on Welfare Reform (30 June) by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, an additional £300m over the next 3 years. This brings our total investment in employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions to £3.8 billion over this Parliament.

We will further pilot the integration of employment advisers and work coaches into the neighbourhood health service, so that working age people with long term health conditions have an integrated public service offer. A patient’s employment goals will be part of care plans, to support more joined up service provision The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health and Social Care have worked together on the 10 Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Health Plan will ensure a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. The Plan sets out the vision for what good joined-up care looks like for people with a combination of health and care needs, including for disabled people.

Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched in November 2024, will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate. In recognition of the key role employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead an independent review, considering 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. Sir Charlie will deliver his final report in the autumn. Employers are crucial in enhancing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and those with health conditions to thrive in the workforce. Our support to employers includes increasing access to Occupational Health, a digital information service for employers and the Disability Confident scheme.