Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of support available to employers recruiting and retaining blind and visually impaired employees.

Disabled people and people with health conditions, including blind and visually impaired people, are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key.

We have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work. These include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as initiatives joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, and WorkWell.

In our Pathways to Work Green Paper we set out our Pathways to Work offer, backed by £1 billion a year of new funding by the end of the decade. We are building towards a guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for all disabled people and people with health conditions on out of work benefits, building on existing initiatives.

Additionally, we have developed a digital information service for employers and continue to oversee the Disability Confident Scheme.

In November 2025, Sir Charlie Mayfield published the Keep Britain Working Report, setting out recommendations to reshape how government works with employers to improve work and health outcomes through creating healthier, more inclusive workplaces. We are now working with volunteer employers, providers and regions through a Vanguard Phase to test and refine approaches to help disabled workers and workers with long-term health conditions, including blind and visually impaired workers, receive the support they need to remain and thrive in employment. These include developing effective stay in work and return to work practices, strengthening prevention, and building the evidence needed to spread good practice.