GP surgeries could have job advisers onsite as part of efforts to encourage 300,000 sick or disabled people into work by 2030 as the Government pledges to give people “a hand up, not a handout”.
Too many people with health conditions are being written off and out of the jobs market, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said, adding that this is something which “fails our economy”.
Funding of more than £1 billion across England and Wales over the next five years is aimed at getting tens of thousands more people into work.
Currently there are approximately 2.8 million people out of work in the UK due to long-term sickness – a figure roughly equivalent to the population of Greater Manchester.
Benefit claimants can be supported by work coaches at job centres in various ways, including being offered advice and referred for job opportunities.
But the Government said specialist employment advisers, which it described as being different to work coaches, are now being embedded into healthcare teams, including GP surgeries and mental health services, to ensure job support is treated as part of the all-round care on offer.
It is understood people will get intensive, personalised help including individual coaching from employment specialists who understand complex barriers to work.
Mr McFadden said: “Writing off people with long-term health conditions or disabilities fails them and fails our economy.
“We are giving people a hand up, not a handout, realising their potential and providing them with the skills to succeed as part of our Plan for Change.
“Thanks to local areas hitting the ground running, it is already delivering results – proving that when we invest in people and communities, everyone wins.”
Will sick people be forced to see job coaches?
The plans are part of the Connect to Work scheme, which is voluntary and open to those who are disabled, have a health condition, or face complex barriers to work.
A £167.2 million expansion of the programme into areas including Cumbria, Oxfordshire, and West Sussex and Brighton is expected to see more than 40,000 more sick or disabled people get support into work.
Unemployed people and those who are in work but at risk of losing their jobs because of the barriers created by their health conditions can refer themselves for support or be referred by healthcare professionals, councils, or community organisations.
Disability campaigners welcomed extra support for people but warned the new measures should not end up forcing people into work.
James Taylor, executive director of strategy at disability equality charity Scope, said the Government “must make sure it’s not pressuring people who are not well enough to work”, while Mark Gale, policy manager at Sense, said it is “vital these measures are designed and delivered alongside disabled people to bring about meaningful change, and aren’t simply used to force people into jobs that aren’t suitable for their needs or may even be detrimental to their health”.
As well as availability of employment advisers, people in areas including Portsmouth, the North East and East Sussex will have access to virtual reality immersive classrooms to help with interview practice, workshops to improve confidence and communication skills, and community-based health programmes.
Parents will also be helped with access to affordable childcare to enable them to get back into the workforce, the Department for Work and Pensions said.
The Government has previously warned that if the welfare system is not reformed, the number of working-age people on disability benefits is set to more than double this decade to 4.3 million, and spending on working-age disability and incapacity benefits will rise to £70 billion a year by the end of this Parliament in 2029/30.
One frustrating thing about this is that disabled people do need job support, but this is rarely what’s actually needed. I’ve been disabled for 20 years; I don’t need some job coach at my doctor to give me advice about it. I need workplaces to be accessible and for accommodations to be mandatory and enforced, and I need not to be discriminated against or treated like a child just for being disabled and not to be socially ostracized. Even better would be a guaranteed job and a trained person to help place me where my skills, education, interests, and access needs best fit.
If they actually wanted disabled people to work more, they could use this money elsewhere a lot more effectively, but I guess getting to that conclusion would force them to question too much about how capitalism creates ableism and what it would take to treat disabled people as equals in the workforce.
What’s extremely frustrating is these initiatives are much more expensive than just paying the blessed manager benefits.
Additionally, are they willing to come to people’s homes to do these services, offer wfh and are employers incentivized to give disabled people priority in placement?
If not, we see you costing taxpayers more just to be more punitive. Tax. The. Wealthy. And. Corporations.
I honestly don’t know why they don’t just legalise assisted suicide, with no requirement for a terminal diagnosis. I would take it and so would many others. They would save money by getting rid of us and it would be kinder than letting us starve or be worked to death which is what happens now.
Because the capitalists actually need a bunch of us to be unemployed and homeless, because the unemployed and homeless act as the reserve army of labor. If the government allowed the reserve army of labor to all kill themselves, then the remaining people would actually be able to use the suicide-created labor scarcity to negotiate better wages, and that cannot be allowed.
Ultimately, this policy is a fancy way of doing basically nothing while attempting to increase the reserve army of labor by forcing more people to have to apply for the same jobs, thus driving the wages down.
If the UK really cared, they could attempt to rebuild their industry which would provide jobs and real GDP growth. However, that isn’t as profitable as making money in London by just moving cash around.
It would reveal the side of society we prefer to disown and banish, rather than confront. It would mean admitting that some of us value the extreme wealth of the very few to actual lives with dignity of the masses.
I understand the way you feel, and I am sorry that you are placed in this position against your will. I do think your life is valuable and that you have inherent value as a person. Plus you contribute to the community by keeping us aware of what’s going on that’s not widely seen, so I appreciate that.
When are your next electrotherapy sessions? I was encouraged to read you have found some relief, even if small.
GP surgeries could have job advisers onsite as part of efforts to encourage 300,000 sick or disabled people into work by 2030 as the Government pledges to give people “a hand up, not a handout”.
Too many people with health conditions are being written off and out of the jobs market, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said, adding that this is something which “fails our economy”.
Funding of more than £1 billion across England and Wales over the next five years is aimed at getting tens of thousands more people into work.
Currently there are approximately 2.8 million people out of work in the UK due to long-term sickness – a figure roughly equivalent to the population of Greater Manchester.
Benefit claimants can be supported by work coaches at job centres in various ways, including being offered advice and referred for job opportunities.
But the Government said specialist employment advisers, which it described as being different to work coaches, are now being embedded into healthcare teams, including GP surgeries and mental health services, to ensure job support is treated as part of the all-round care on offer.
It is understood people will get intensive, personalised help including individual coaching from employment specialists who understand complex barriers to work.
Mr McFadden said: “Writing off people with long-term health conditions or disabilities fails them and fails our economy.
“We are giving people a hand up, not a handout, realising their potential and providing them with the skills to succeed as part of our Plan for Change.
“Thanks to local areas hitting the ground running, it is already delivering results – proving that when we invest in people and communities, everyone wins.”
Will sick people be forced to see job coaches? The plans are part of the Connect to Work scheme, which is voluntary and open to those who are disabled, have a health condition, or face complex barriers to work.
A £167.2 million expansion of the programme into areas including Cumbria, Oxfordshire, and West Sussex and Brighton is expected to see more than 40,000 more sick or disabled people get support into work.
Unemployed people and those who are in work but at risk of losing their jobs because of the barriers created by their health conditions can refer themselves for support or be referred by healthcare professionals, councils, or community organisations.
Disability campaigners welcomed extra support for people but warned the new measures should not end up forcing people into work.
James Taylor, executive director of strategy at disability equality charity Scope, said the Government “must make sure it’s not pressuring people who are not well enough to work”, while Mark Gale, policy manager at Sense, said it is “vital these measures are designed and delivered alongside disabled people to bring about meaningful change, and aren’t simply used to force people into jobs that aren’t suitable for their needs or may even be detrimental to their health”.
As well as availability of employment advisers, people in areas including Portsmouth, the North East and East Sussex will have access to virtual reality immersive classrooms to help with interview practice, workshops to improve confidence and communication skills, and community-based health programmes.
Parents will also be helped with access to affordable childcare to enable them to get back into the workforce, the Department for Work and Pensions said.
The Government has previously warned that if the welfare system is not reformed, the number of working-age people on disability benefits is set to more than double this decade to 4.3 million, and spending on working-age disability and incapacity benefits will rise to £70 billion a year by the end of this Parliament in 2029/30.
One frustrating thing about this is that disabled people do need job support, but this is rarely what’s actually needed. I’ve been disabled for 20 years; I don’t need some job coach at my doctor to give me advice about it. I need workplaces to be accessible and for accommodations to be mandatory and enforced, and I need not to be discriminated against or treated like a child just for being disabled and not to be socially ostracized. Even better would be a guaranteed job and a trained person to help place me where my skills, education, interests, and access needs best fit.
If they actually wanted disabled people to work more, they could use this money elsewhere a lot more effectively, but I guess getting to that conclusion would force them to question too much about how capitalism creates ableism and what it would take to treat disabled people as equals in the workforce.
What’s extremely frustrating is these initiatives are much more expensive than just paying the blessed manager benefits.
Additionally, are they willing to come to people’s homes to do these services, offer wfh and are employers incentivized to give disabled people priority in placement?
If not, we see you costing taxpayers more just to be more punitive. Tax. The. Wealthy. And. Corporations.
I honestly don’t know why they don’t just legalise assisted suicide, with no requirement for a terminal diagnosis. I would take it and so would many others. They would save money by getting rid of us and it would be kinder than letting us starve or be worked to death which is what happens now.
Because the capitalists actually need a bunch of us to be unemployed and homeless, because the unemployed and homeless act as the reserve army of labor. If the government allowed the reserve army of labor to all kill themselves, then the remaining people would actually be able to use the suicide-created labor scarcity to negotiate better wages, and that cannot be allowed.
Ultimately, this policy is a fancy way of doing basically nothing while attempting to increase the reserve army of labor by forcing more people to have to apply for the same jobs, thus driving the wages down.
If the UK really cared, they could attempt to rebuild their industry which would provide jobs and real GDP growth. However, that isn’t as profitable as making money in London by just moving cash around.
I never thought of that, but it sounds horribly correct.
It would reveal the side of society we prefer to disown and banish, rather than confront. It would mean admitting that some of us value the extreme wealth of the very few to actual lives with dignity of the masses.
I understand the way you feel, and I am sorry that you are placed in this position against your will. I do think your life is valuable and that you have inherent value as a person. Plus you contribute to the community by keeping us aware of what’s going on that’s not widely seen, so I appreciate that.
When are your next electrotherapy sessions? I was encouraged to read you have found some relief, even if small.
Thanks. My next ones are in November. One every Tuesday.
Great! I trust the benefits are cumulative, based on your prior posts.
Yes, they’re supposed to be.
A lot of push back and people not trusting the lizard people in parliament to not abuse it