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 integrate a life cycle approach that reaches older women and men into its work to help disabled people.

The Government recognises how important it is to take account of individual circumstances, and this is built into our approach to both disabled people and older workers. Work coaches provide an individual and personalised service, supported by specialist roles like our Disability Employment Advisers and Older Claimants Champions.

Employers have an important role to play, and to enable them to provide the right conditions for people to thrive in the workplace, we have extended the right to request flexible working, promoted core standards for supporting employees with mental health issues, and consulted on a package of measures aiming to reduce ill-health related job loss. In February 2019, we launched an online offer of the mid-life MOT intended to act as a vital prompt to engage more people at work in planning more actively for later life.