Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has issued guidance to work coaches on avoiding recommendations for in-person work for people who are immunocompromised.

As mentioned in my previous response, the Department is committed to providing the best possible support for all claimants to meet their individual circumstances. Claimants with a health condition or disability, including those who are immunocompromised, continue to have tailored commitments agreed based on their personal circumstances, including considering the impact of their health and wider situation.

Any work-related requirements are set in discussion with the claimant, tailored to their individual capability and circumstances, making them realistic and achievable. The guidance available to DWP staff outlines the easements which may be applied including that work search reflects the type and location of jobs which are appropriate to the individual.

Although DWP does not routinely provide guidance specifically on supporting people who are immunocompromised, we do ensure that staff are aware of the sources of information available to them relating to medical conditions that are associated with this. Staff are signposted to tools, guidance support and websites to effectively use resources from both internal and external sites, such as information directly from the NHS found here.

This ensures that staff can access the most up to date advice and can use this to inform how they support individual customers.

We empower our Work Coaches to use all available resources to best support each claimant, however they are not trained to provide comprehensive healthcare advice, therefore while we do discuss the implications certain jobs may have on their health, we would not advise against jobs the claimant wishes to apply for.