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<p>Good work is generally good for health. This is why in the <em>Health and Disability
White Paper</em> the Government reaffirmed its commitment to close the disability
employment gap and stated its intention to set a new disability employment ambition.</p><p>
</p><p>The latest figures, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for
October to December 2023, showed that he disability employment gap was 27.9 percentage
points. This was a decrease of 1.9 percentage points on the year. However, the ONS
have advised caution when interpreting short-term changes due to the recent volatility
in the data.</p><p> </p><p>Disabled people and people with health conditions are a
diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place,
at the right time, is key. The Government therefore has an ambitious programme of
initiatives to support disabled people and people with health conditions to start,
stay and succeed in work. These include:</p><ul><li><strong>The Work and Health Programme</strong>
providing tailored and personalised support for disabled people;</li><li><strong>Access
to Work grants</strong> helping towards extra costs of working beyond standard reasonable
adjustments;</li><li><strong>Disability Confident</strong> encouraging employers to
think differently about disability and health, and to take positive action to address
the issues disabled employees face in the workplace;</li><li><strong>A </strong><a
href="https://www.support-with-employee-health-and-disability.dwp.gov.uk/support-with-employee-health-and-disability"
target="_blank"><strong>digital</strong></a><strong> information service for employers</strong>
providing better integrated and tailored guidance on supporting health and disability
in the workplace;</li><li>Increasing access to <strong>Occupational Health</strong>,
including the testing of financial incentives for small and medium-sized enterprises
and the self-employed;</li><li><strong>Additional Work Coach support</strong> in Jobcentres
for disabled people and people with health conditions to help them move towards and
in to work;</li><li><strong>Disability Employment Advisers </strong>in Jobcentres
offering advice and expertise on how to help disabled people and people with health
conditions into work;</li><li>Work in partnership between the DWP and health systems,
including:</li></ul><p>o <strong>Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies</strong>,
which combines psychological treatment and employment support for people with mental
health conditions; and</p><p>o The <strong>Individual Placement and Support in Primary
Care</strong> <strong>programme</strong>, a Supported Employment model (place, train
and maintain) delivered in health settings, aimed at people with physical or common
mental health disabilities to support them to access paid jobs in the open labour
market;</p><p> </p><p>Building on this, we announced significant additional investment
during the 2023 fiscal events. Alongside the delivery of our existing initiatives,
we are now focused on delivering this package which includes:</p><ul><li>A new voluntary
employment programme called <strong>Universal</strong><strong> Support (US)</strong>
for 100,000 people per year when fully rolled out in England and Wales. This programme
will provide up to a year of ongoing wraparound support for people with health conditions
to stay and succeed in work;</li><li><strong>WorkWell</strong>, which will bring together
the NHS, local authorities and other partners, in collaboration with jobcentres, to
provide light touch work and health support for approximately 60,000 people. The WorkWell
services will be in place from autumn 2024 and will be delivered in 15 pilot areas;</li><li>Building
on the extension of the certification of the <strong>fit notes</strong> to a wider
range of healthcare professions, we are exploring new ways of providing individuals
receiving a fit note with timely access to work and health support. Through a <em>Call
for Evidence </em>we are currently seeking views from those with lived experiences,
healthcare professionals and employers;</li><li>Introducing <strong>Employment Advisors
to Musculoskeletal Conditions (MSK) services</strong> in England, helping individuals
with MSK conditions to return to or remain in employment (work in partnership between
DWP and health systems); and</li><li>Publishing the Government response to the <a
href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/occupational-health-working-better"
target="_blank"><strong>Occupational Health: Working Better</strong></a> consultation.
This included establishing an expert group to support the development of the voluntary
national baseline for Occupational Health provision<p><p></li></ul><p>From 2025, we
are reforming the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) to reflect new flexibilities in
the labour market and greater employment opportunities for disabled people and people
with health conditions, whilst maintaining protections for those with the most significant
conditions. Alongside these changes, a new Chance to Work Guarantee will effectively
remove the WCA for most existing claimants who have already been assessed without
work-related requirements removing the fear of reassessment and giving this group
the confidence to try work.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>
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