Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her policy is on continuing the Household Support Fund after 30 September 2024.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has announced funding to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) for a further 6 months, from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025.
An additional £500 million will be provided to enable the extension of the HSF, including funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion, as usual.
As with previous HSF schemes, the Fund will be made available to County Councils and Unitary Authorities in England to provide discretionary support to those most in need.
The HSF scheme guidance and individual Local Authority funding allocations for the forthcoming extension will be announced as soon as possible ahead of the scheme beginning on 1 October 2024.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress she has made on helping support adults with autism into work.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
We know that most autistic people want to have a job, and evidence shows that they bring many positive benefits to their employers. We are therefore taking positive steps to promote initiatives which help and support autistic adults to move closer to the labour market and into employment.
The Buckland Review into Autism Employment focused on increasing the number of autistic people in high-quality and sustainable employment. Specifically, it focused on identifying barriers preventing autistic people from securing employment, retaining employment, and growing their careers; and on recommending actions to overcome those barriers.
The evidence gathering stage of the review is now complete, and the review team has drawn the evidence together into a report and recommendations, ready for publication shortly.
We are also supporting employers via Disability Confident to increase their understanding of how to recruit, retain and support disabled employees and those with long term health conditions. The scheme provides employers with the skills and knowledge to remove barriers that might be preventing disabled people, neurodivergent people and those with long term health conditions from accessing employment and allows them opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations.
The Spring Budget confirmed funding for a new employment programme called Universal Support. Universal Support will use the proven supported employment model to support inactive disabled people, people with health conditions and people with additional barriers to employment into sustained work.
In the Autumn Statement we announced that we are expanding the Universal Support scheme so it will provide support for 100k people a year once fully rolled out – increasing from 50k a year announced in Spring Budget 2023.
Eligible autistic and learning-disabled people will be able to opt in to receive up to 12 months of “place and train” support - helping them move quickly into suitable work, followed with wraparound support to help them to sustain that employment for the longer-term.
We are also continuing to run a series of programmes which include employment support for autistic people, such as the Work and Health Programme, Intensive Personalised Employment Support and Local Supported Employment.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending the Household Support Fund.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The Government is providing an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of essentials, bringing the total funding for this support to £1.5 billion.
In England, £421 million is being provided to extend the existing Household Support Fund from 01 October to 31 March. Guidance and individual local authority indicative allocations for this further extension to the Household Support Fund will be published soon. The devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula.