Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Q9 of the oral evidence by Gareth Parry to the Work and Pensions Committee on 17 April 2024, HC 697, whether the Work and Health Programme will end in November 2024.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Work and Health Programme is part of a much wider offer to help people with disabilities and long-term health conditions and those in disadvantage groups start, stay and succeed in work.
As part of the government’s Back to Work Plan we have launched and plan to deliver a range of other support which will put in place an offer to a broader range of disabled people, for example, Universal Support will support up to 100,000 disabled people, people with health conditions and people with additional barriers to employment per year, once fully rolled out, helping them to find, enter, and remain in work
The Work and Health Programme will continue to be delivered until July 2026, further announcements on the programme will be made in due course.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what national specialist employment support his Department plans to provide for disabled people, in the context of the planned ending of funding for the Work and Health Programme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government’s £2.5 billion Back to Work Plan will support over a million people to break down barriers to finding and staying in work through the use of NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support, Restart and Universal Support which aims to support up to 100,000 disabled people, people with health conditions and people with additional barriers to employment per year, once fully rolled out, helping them to find, enter, and remain in work.
Any further announcements regarding the Work and Health Programme will be made in due course.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of No Recourse to Public Funds on people who are (a) destitute and (b) facing destitution.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office is committed to the continuous review of the NRPF policy and are engaging with public and private sector organisations on a regular basis to understand the impacts of the NRPF condition.
The Government published an overarching Equality Impact Assessment on the Compliant Environment measures, of which No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) is part; Compliant environment: overarching equality impact assessment (accessible) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
In general, temporary migrants are expected to support themselves and any accompanying family members in the UK without recourse to public funds. This is a well-established principle that protects taxpayer-funded public services from becoming overburdened.
Nonetheless, there are important safeguards in place for those in genuine need. Migrants with permission under the Family or Private Life routes, or the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) routes, can apply, for free, to have their NRPF condition lifted by making a ‘Change of Conditions’ application. An individual on these routes can apply to have their NRPF condition lifted if they are destitute or at risk of imminent destitution, if there are reasons relating to the welfare of a relevant child, or where they are facing exceptional circumstances affecting their income or expenditure.
For all other immigration routes (other than Family or Private Life, or the Hong Kong BN(O) routes), the general expectation is that they will return to their home country should they become unable to meet their essential living needs in the UK. If there are particularly compelling circumstances why leaving the UK is not possible, discretion can be used to consider if the circumstances justify access to public funds.
Local authorities may also provide basic safety net support, regardless of immigration status, if it is established either that there is a risk to the wellbeing of a child or there is a genuine care need that does not arise solely from destitution: for example, where a person has community care needs or serious health problems. Support provided to a child by local authorities is not dependent on the immigration status of the child or their parent(s).
Migrants with NRPF who have paid the necessary National Insurance contributions or have relevant periods of employment or self-employment, can claim contributory benefits and statutory payments such as New Style Jobseekers Allowance, Statutory Sick Pay, and the State Pension.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of disabled people receiving Personal Independence Payment are in work.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In March 2023, 475,000 people in receipt of PIP in England, Wales, or outside the UK were in employment in the UK, including self-employment. The proportion of people in receipt of PIP who are in employment was published in Modernising Support for Independent Living - The Health and Disability Green Paper found here.
These figures contain all PIP claimants, including claimants with disabilities and long-term health conditions, and those over pension age.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
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 potential merits of extending the eligibility criteria for Carers Allowance for carers with overpayments of National Insurance contributions.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Entitlement to Carer’s Allowance is not based on having paid, or been credited with, National Insurance contributions, or on passing a means test. Rather, the basic entitlement conditions largely relate to the care being provided; whether the carer is in gainful employment or studying full-time; and residency tests.
Carer’s Allowance is a devolved benefit in Scotland.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he is taking steps to ensure that single claimants with long-term disabilities receive the same benefits under Universal Credit as under the legacy system.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Credit provides more generous support for disabled people than it does for people in similar circumstances who are not disabled.
Based on the outcome of a work capability assessment, it may be decided that a claimant has limited capability for work and work-related activity, and may be awarded an additional amount of benefit, currently £416.19 per calendar month from (2024/25 rates).
Additionally, where it is decided that claimants have limited capability for work or limited capability for work and work-related activity, they are eligible for a work allowance.
The Government has given a commitment that no eligible claimants who are invited to move to Universal Credit (UC), from legacy benefits, by the Department for Work and Pensions, and whose circumstances remain the same, will have a lower entitlement to UC than they had entitlement to their legacy benefits at the point of moving. Where necessary, eligible claimants will be awarded Transitional Protection (TP) in the form of a Transitional Element (TE) to ensure this commitment is met.
Severe disability premium (SDP) transitional payments are available to claimants who became entitled to Universal Credit (UC) within a month of being entitled to severe disability premium (SDP) within a legacy benefit. In a case where the legacy benefit had terminated within that month the claimant must have continued to satisfy the eligibility conditions for SDP up to and including the first day of their UC award. The relevant legacy benefits are:
New regulations came into force on 14th February 2024 and provide newly eligible claimants additional transitional protection where they are entitled to the transitional SDP element.
The claimants must also have been previously entitled to other disability premia in the month preceding their claim to UC, and continue to satisfy the eligibility conditions up to and including the first day of their UC award, to one or more of the following:
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many disabled people the Work and Health Programme support helps into work per year; and what estimate his Department has made of the number of how many disabled people that will be helped into work by Universal Support per year.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest Work and Health Programme statistics to November 2023 are published in the latest statistics on .GOV.UK and in Stat-Xplore.
There are three eligibility groups – disability, early access and long term unemployed. Up to November 2023, 77% of starts were from the disability group. For cohorts starting up to November 2021 (who had been on the programme for 24 months at the time of release) 47% had achieved first earnings and 32% achieved a job outcome. The number of job outcomes achieved in each year can be found in the table below:
Number of WHP job outcomes achieved per year in the disability group
| 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-2 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | Apr 2023- Nov-2023 | TOTAL |
Disability Group | 3,282 | 8,092 | 8,063 | 19,186 | 16,175 | 9,137 | 63,935 |
Note: there will also be disabled people in the early access group and long term unemployed, but we are unable to identify those people – therefore these numbers will be underestimates of the total numbers of disabled people who achieve job outcomes.
Further information about definitions are explained in the Work and Health Programme statistics: background information and methodology, in particular:
Universal Support will support up to 100,000 disabled people, people with health conditions and people with additional barriers to employment into sustained work per year, once fully rolled out.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average number of Work Coaches was per Jobcentre in the latest period for which data is available; and what the average caseload was of a Work Coach in the same period.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Average number of Work Coaches per Jobcentre
Jobcentres across the DWP estate vary significantly in size and capacity, the average number of Work Coaches per Jobcentre does not reflect this variation and is not a metric used by the Department.
At the end of March 24, the number of full time equivalent (FTE) UC, JSA and ESA Work Coaches across Great Britain was 16,480 and the number of Jobcentres was 634, giving an average number of Work Coaches per Jobcentre of approximately 26.
Notes on the figures:
Average caseload of a Work Coach
The table below shows the average number of Universal Credit customers in the Intensive Work Search regime per Universal Credit work coach FTE across Great Britain in March 24.
| March 24 |
People on UC (Intensive Work Search only) | 1,495,380 |
Number of UC work coaches (FTE) | 15,290 |
Intensive Work Search customers per UC work coach (FTE) | 100 |
Data sources: Work coach FTE - DWP’s internal Activity Based Model, People on UC - Stat-Xplore (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk)
Please note, the Department does not use caseload per Work Coach to estimate the number of Work Coaches required nationally or locally. Not all UC claimants have a Work Coach, but we have provided the number of Intensive Work Search customers per UC Work Coach as most of this group do. The Department has complex models to estimate the resource required in Jobcentres at a national level. These models cover activities across all DWP customer groups and job roles.
The Department continually impacts and assesses the service being offered to customers. Staff numbers, including the number of Work Coaches, and demand for Jobcentre services are reviewed on an ongoing basis, in line with the latest economic and benefit forecasts.
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Notes on the figures:
All figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 and cover Great Britain
People on UC
FTE
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff in his Department were working on programmes supporting disabled people into work as of 23 April (a) 2010 and (b) 2024.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold this information centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.
Improving the lives of disabled people is a priority for this Government. This includes supporting more disabled people and people with health conditions to start, stay and succeed in work. In recognition of this, the Joint DWP and DHSC Work & Health Directorate was set up in 2015 in recognition of the significant link between work and health and to reflect the shared agenda of boosting employment opportunities for disabled people and people with health conditions. This not only benefits people’s health and wealth, but also the UK economy through increased productivity and reduced economic inactivity.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department held discussions with organisations representing disabled people on the disbanding of the Work and Health Programme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Stakeholder engagement has been a key part of the design processes for the range of new programmes to enhance employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions being funded through the Back to Work Plan announced at Spring Budget and Autumn Statement 2023 – including Universal Support.
This has included a range of organisations representing the types of people who are eligible for the current Work and Health Programme. We will continue to engage with relevant organisations as the planning for and roll out of these new and expanded programmes progresses.
Any further announcements regarding the Work and Health Programme will be made in due course.