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 increase the number of people with epilepsy entering employment.

Government’s Plan for Jobs provides new funding to ensure more people, including those with health conditions get tailored Jobcentre Plus support to help them find work and to build the skills they need to get into work. This includes £895m for 13,500 additional Work Coaches who have been successfully recruited. The Restart Programme will support individuals who have been unemployed for over 12 months and through regular, personalised support providers will work with participants to identify the best way to support them into sustained employment.

From April 2021, the Disability Employment Advisors (DEA) Direct Support will be strengthened to include an element of Direct Support to customers with health condition or disability who require additional support over and above the ESA and Universal Credit core offer. DEA Direct Support will deliver work focussed bespoke support to move individuals with a disability or health condition towards a work outcome.

If employees with epilepsy need workplace support beyond the cost of reasonable adjustment, Access to Work can help. Access to Work is supporting thousands more people with disabilities and health conditions than ever before. In 2019, Access to Work funded tailored and flexible support for 43,000 people, a 20% increase on the previous year.

We also, through Disability Confident, provide employers with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace.