Universal Credit

(asked on 14th September 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what financial measures her Department has announced to support people on universal credit (a) secure employment and (b) secure more hours if already in part-time employment.


Answered by
Mims Davies Portrait
Mims Davies
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 22nd September 2021

Through our Plan for Jobs, we are targeting tailored support schemes of people of all ages to help them prepare for, get into and progress in work. These include: Kickstart, delivering tens of thousands of six-month work placements for UC claimants aged 16-24 at risk of unemployment; Restart, which provides 12 months’ intensive employment support to UC claimants who are unemployed for a year; and JETS, which provides light touch employment support for people who are claiming either Universal Credit or New Style Jobseekers Allowance, for up to 6 months, helping participants effectively re-engage with the labour market and focus their job search. We have also recruited an additional 13,500 Work Coaches to provide more intensive support to find a job. In total, our Plan for Jobs interventions will support more than two million people.

Supporting people into work and progressing in-work is at the heart of our approach to tackling poverty. We have recruited an additional 13,500 Work Coaches in our Jobcentres to help support people of all ages to find a job, retrain, or gain vital practical experience to move into better paid jobs or those that have opportunities for progression.

Last year DWP launched the In-Work Progression Commission led by Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith. The Commission published their independent report on 1 July 2021. It makes 26 recommendations to help people to progress at work and move out of low paid employment. The Government welcomed the report, we are carefully considering the recommendations and we will respond in the coming months.

In the meantime, DWP continues to build evidence of how we can support working claimants to progress in work. We are trialling a voluntary in-work support offer with claimants in South Yorkshire.

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