Employment: Cancer

(asked on 28th November 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support people entering, returning and staying in the workforce after cancer.


Answered by
Sarah Newton Portrait
Sarah Newton
This question was answered on 6th December 2017

The Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability paper published on 30 November set out the Government’s strategy to support the ambitious target of getting one million more disabled people in work over the next ten years. Within the Civil Service, we are leading the way as an employer. We are working with external partners through a cross-sector programme on disability inclusion to push the boundaries of best practice in topics such as job-carving. This is a form of workplace adjustment, which could involve redesigning an existing job around the needs of an individual employee with a specific disability, or creating a new role; for example, when an employee returns to work following a serious illness such as cancer or a stroke.

Access to Work (AtW) provides practical and financial support to help with additional costs faced by individuals whose health or disability affects the way in which they do their job. This includes the effects of cancer, or health conditions or disabilities arising from cancer. The type of support is tailored to the needs of the individual and can include travel to work, support workers and specialist aides and equipment.

The Government provides a range of support to employers to help them recruit and retain people with mental health conditions: for example, the Disability Confident scheme and Access to Work, which has a specific Mental Health Support Service. This service helps people by providing telephone and online advice and support. Last year, over 1,800 people with mental health conditions were approved provision from Access to Work – a record number, a 37% increase compared to the previous year.

Reticulating Splines