Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the impact of the level of employment support for veterans in jobcentres on trends in the number of veterans finding employment.

DWP supports people across the country to move into and progress in work through a range of support including face-to-face time with work coaches, job-search advice and more intensive employment programmes.

Veterans were eligible for the Work and Health Program (WHP), through the Early Access Group (EAG), which was on a voluntary basis. Evidence from the participant surveys suggests that the WHP has had some positive impacts on participants’ work readiness compared with the control group. This is most evident for voluntary WHP participants relative to their control group. Among both mandatory and voluntary participants, six in ten thought the support received had increased their chances of moving into work.

Veterans will also be eligible for the Universal Support (US) programme which is currently in development. This will be evaluated to provide evidence on the effectiveness of the program for its participants.

The is currently no analysis of veteran’s outcomes on Universal Credit (UC). The armed forces marker on UCFS was introduced in 2021. Coverage is not yet at the level required for robust analysis.