Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Universal Support pilot schemes.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Support is being delivered in two phases. The expansions to Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) and the Work and Health Programme (WHP Pioneer) are being rolled out for phase one of the service. The aim of phase one is to provide help to up to 50 thousand more disabled people and those with health conditions who want to work, while learning more lessons about how to scale up support for these groups.
WHP Pioneer data will start to be published from May 2024. We are committed to publishing IPSPC programme data in due course. The interim and final evaluation reports for Universal Support Phase 1 covering WHP Pioneer and IPSPC will also be published.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of the Disability Confident scheme on the disability employment gap.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Disability Confident (DC) is one of a range of policies to support disabled people into work and to close the disability employment gap. It is difficult to isolate the direct impact of individual policies on the disability employment gap as numerous, interacting factors are at play, including overall labour market trends and changes to the composition of the disabled population, in addition to the effects of disability employment policies and programmes in themselves.
When an employer signs up to DC, they agree to commitments which encourage employers to think differently about disability and to take positive action to address issues disabled employees face in the workplace. There are currently over 19,000 DC members and they estimate 11.5 million employees in total working in their businesses.
In September 2023, the Department published findings from a survey with members of the DC scheme, conducted by an independent research agency[1]. The research explored the effect that signing up to the DC scheme had on members’ recruitment and retention attitudes towards disabled people.
The DWP and Cabinet officials regularly meet with Ministerial Disability Champions to drive this agenda across Government. The Champions’ role is to ensure disability inclusion is a priority in their Department’s work. They are helping to deliver our commitment to support disabled people in the UK through creating more opportunities, protecting their rights and ensuring they fully benefit from, and can contribute to, every aspect of our society.
[1] The survey was conducted in February to March 2022. In total 1,233 survey interviews were conducted with scheme members.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) outcomes of the pre-testing phase and (b) results of phase (i) one and (ii) two of the Additional Jobcentre Support Pilot are for the number of claimants moving into (A) employment and (B) a different benefit category.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
An evaluation of the Additional Jobcentre Support pilot is ongoing.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many additional (a) work coaches and (b) hours of work coach time are allocated to jobcentres to administer the Additional Jobcentre Support pilot.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The pilot is being delivered using existing Jobcentre resource.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) planned spending is for and (b) expected number of beneficiaries are of the Flexible Support Fund in each of the next five years.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not hold any official estimate for the expenditure.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) planned spending is for and (b) expected number of beneficiaries are of WorkWell in each of the next five years.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
WorkWell will fund 15 pilot areas to join up the work and health landscape at the local level under one coherent place-based strategy. It will enable pilot areas to design and deliver a new early-intervention assessment and support service and a single, joined-up view and gateway into the services that are available locally to manage their specific needs. Funding includes a National Support Offer to enable the Vanguards to meet their delivery plans and a full evaluation of this pilot programme.
We expect these 15 areas to provide services to approximately 59,000 participants over the course of the two-year delivery period. This is in addition to the wider benefits for local communities across England of improved work and health integration.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) planned spending is for and (b) expected number of beneficiaries are of Universal Support in each of the next five years.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The total budget for Universal Support is £1.4 billion which will provide up to 400,000 places during the lifetime of the programme. Once fully rolled out it aims to provide 100,000 places a year. Detailed planning and preparation is underway to determine how places will build to that maximum annual volume.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department plans to spend on the Restart Scheme in the next three financial years; and if he will make an estimate of the number of people who will be supported through that scheme in the same period.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Referrals to the current Restart Scheme will be made up to June 2024, offering participants up to a year of support. As of the end of February 2024, around 150,000 people were receiving support and the majority will continue participating into 2024/25; in addition, around a further 50,000 are expected to start before June 2024. Spend over the next three financial years relating to supporting these people is expected to be around £400m, with the scheme operating on Payment by Result contracts.
In the Autumn Statement 2023, funding was approved to extend the Restart Scheme, taking referrals between July 2024 and June 2026. It is estimated that the extension will support around a further 500,000 people from two years of referrals. Funding of around £1bn has been agreed for the extension, with some of this expenditure expected to fall beyond the 2026/27 financial year due to the fact the scheme operates Payment by Results.
Please note
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) planned spending is for and (b) expected number of beneficiaries are of the Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme in each of the next five years.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Intensive Personalised Employment Support (IPES) programme is due to end on 21 September 2025. The forecasted spending for the 2024/2025 tax year and the beginning of the 2025/2026 tax year until the programme ends is shown in the table below.
FORECAST 2024/2025 | FORECAST 2025/2026 (up to 21 Sept 2025) |
£4.0m | £0.5m |
We do not produce a formal forecast of the number of participants for the IPES programme per year. The last intake of participants to the programme was December 2023. As of 29 February 2024, the total number of participants was 3,820. This number will decline as participants complete the programme, until September 2025 when the programme is due to end.
Please Note
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential (a) fiscal and (b) economic impact of the reduction in the permitted period during which (i) Universal Credit and (ii) Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants can limit their work search to their preferred sector or pay level.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.