Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of requiring jobseekers to accept any job within one month of making a claim for support on people with special educational needs and mental ill-health.

The Way to Work campaign is a move to help job-ready claimants into work more quickly, utilising strong relationships with employers to help fill the hundreds of thousands of vacancies in the economy. As has previously been the case, Work Coaches have discretion to allow those claimants who have previously carried out work of a particular nature, or at a particular level of remuneration to search for roles within that same area of work. The period within which they can limit their search in this way is known as the ‘permitted period’. The changes we have made will mean that claimants now have a reduced “permitted period” in which to search for a job in their preferred sector, from 3 months to a maximum of 4 weeks. Claimants will be expected to broaden their job search activity to include any suitable job that they are capable of that can support them whilst they consider their longer-term career options. We have easements in place to protect people with health conditions and disabilities from being asked to consider work in sectors which do not fit their capabilities. This means that the hours of the job a claimant is expected to look for, and the location and type of job should be appropriate and reflect the claimant’s capabilities and impacts of any mental health condition. Claimants who are supplying a fit note in advance of their work capability assessment are not required to start work.

The expectations of a claimant are agreed with them and clearly set out in their Claimant Commitment at the beginning of their UC claim. This includes both mandatory and voluntary actions the claimant has agreed to undertake. Any work-related requirements are set in discussion with the claimant and will always be tailored to an individual claimant’s capability and circumstances, making them realistic and achievable. Claimants with health-related support requirements will undertake a Work Capability Assessment and, where specific needs are identified, will receive support through the Work and Health Programme.