The Bishop of Southwark received the following written answer on 10th May 2024:
The Lord Bishop of Southwark asked His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to undertake an impact assessment of the closure of the Work and Health Programme this autumn and the impact of this on enabling disabled people to enter the job market.
Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con, DWP): As part of the government’s Back to Work Plan we have launched and plan to deliver a range of other support which will put in place an offer to a broader range of disabled people, for example, Universal Support will support up to 100,000 disabled people, people with health conditions and people with additional barriers to employment per year, once fully rolled out, helping them to find, enter, and remain in work.
The Work and Health Programme (WHP) has supported 300k people since it was introduced in 2017 to the end of November 2023, of whom over 130k have entered employment in this time. More recently WHP Pioneer, which is part of the first phase of Universal Support, aims to support up to 25k people through DWP contracts. The next publication of WHP Statistics on Gov.UK is due at the end of May 2024.
The Lord Bishop of Southwark asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the transfer to Universal Credit of those with a long-term disability which inhibits them from entering the job market.
Viscount Younger of Leckie: DWP continue to learn and iterate our approach as we progress our Move to Universal Credit activity. We remain committed to ensuring that the transition to Universal Credit works as smoothly as possible for all customers, including enhanced customer support for vulnerable customers.
Our latest insight publication is available on GOV.UK – Move to Universal Credit – insight on Tax Credit migrations and initial Discovery activity for wider benefit cohorts(opens in a new tab).
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