Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to provide (a) financial and (b) other support for people who require time away from work for mental health conditions.

As set out in the recent Command Paper, Improving Lives: the Future of Work, Health and Disability, we believe people should get the support they need whatever their health condition or disability, whether that’s from their employer, from the health system or from the welfare system.

“Thriving at work”, the independent review by Lord Stevenson and Paul Farmer, set out core and enhanced standards which employers should implement to ensure that their employees receive the right support to enable them to manage their mental health.

We also want to reform the Statutory Sick Pay system so that it supports more flexible working, to help people remain or return to work if they are unwell. We are taking forward further policy development and will bring forward a consultation on these changes, as well as any other SSP changes we identify in our wider work, before introducing this reform.

There is a range of support for employers to help them recruit and retain disabled people and people with health conditions, including Disability Confident and the Access to Work Mental Health Support Service. We are also exploring how to shape, fund and deliver transformational change to provide effective occupational health services that can support all in work.

This is all part of our drive to highlight to employers the need to recognise the business reasons for recruiting and retaining disabled people and people with health conditions, managing ill-health effectively and creating healthy work places.