The DWP has announced that 1,000 existing work coaches will be transferred to supporting sick and disabled claimants  in 2025/26, with 65,000 claimants getting “intensive voluntary support” to move into work.

The DWP say that work coaches will be offering support to claimants on health-related benefits, including those who are furthest away from work.

Coaches will provide “tailored and personalised employment support” and help claimants access support with writing CVs and interview techniques.

The DWP say that the redeployed work coaches are a “downpayment” on plans to overhaul employment support, due to be announced before the end of the month. 

At the same time as making the announcement, the DWP released figures from a survey which shows that:

44% of disabled people and people with a health condition don’t trust the DWP to help people reach their full career potential.

Nearly 2 in 5 (39%) disabled people and people with a health condition do not trust DWP to take its customers’ needs into account in how it provides services.

In the same announcement, the DWP claim that “the number of working-age people on the health element of Universal Credit or claiming Employment Support Allowance (ESA) has risen to 3.1 million, a staggering 319% increase since the pandemic, reflecting the alarming rate at which young and working aged people are increasingly falling out of work and claiming incapacity benefits.” 

However, if the government wishes to encourage companies to employ more disabled workers, the recent claim by disability minister Stephen Timms that the Access To Work programme is “unsustainable” is unlikely to help.

Access To Work provides grants for reasonable adjustments to help disabled people stay in employment.  The average payment is around £5,000.

But giving evidence to the work and pensions committee last month, Timms complained that “we used to talk about Access to Work as the best-kept secret because nobody really knew about it and employers did not know about it. That seems to have changed in the last two years and there has been an enormous surge in applications for Access to Work.”

As a result, some people are waiting many months for their application to be dealt with. 

Timms told the committee that the government plans to place more of the onus on employers to pay for adjustments, because “the current style of Access to Work is unlikely to be sustainable in the long term”.

As long as the DWP’s focus is on trying to improve the CV’s and interview techniques of disabled claimants, rather than support and encourage companies to employ disabled people, the efforts of work coaches seem doomed.

You can read “Government bolsters employment support to unlock work for sick and disabled people” here.

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  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 3 days ago
    It's sickening how they keep going on about getting disabled claimants into work when it's very clear it's about cutting costs.

    Where are the unions for civil servants who say they're against these cuts and care about disabled claimants?? Why aren't they striking and protesting for us? They're quick to go on strike and protest when it's their pay in question. They know these actions bring about change.
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      · 2 days ago
      @Anon Work and sickness from work are two sides of the same coin...
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    · 3 days ago
    Some GB News commentator (yep, I know) was on Radio 4's Any Questions? on 7/8 March 2025 saying he believes people with mental health conditions are lying and should be made to work. No words.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 3 days ago
    They're desperate - this country is broken.  Capitalism in its current form has failed, we need a rethink, the people need to come first this time.  Solution? Kindness, but will it happen?
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      · 2 days ago
      @Clay Social-capitalism is a concept I've discovered lately. I dont think communism is a way forward, look at the result in such a short time of use. Capitalism sucks, communism sucks. Something in the middle, with emphasis on socialism, is probably the real way forward. But we all know from history how the course goes before change is made. As empires collapse into chaos, the worst kinds of people are elected or appointed, further bring about chaos and ruin to their country, innocent people are harmed, forced into labour, or die. Then the people rise up, demand change - often with violence out of desperation - and finally, change is made. Look across the pond to the US - they are in the 'worst kinds of people are elected' phase. This is how countries like ours went from serfdom to capitalism. The expansion of AI development and technology is going to force people out of work and into benefits, leaving people poorer and the rich richer. That's going to be our 'forced into labour or harmed' phase all over again under capitalism.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 3 days ago
    Good luck to the 65000, and remember, it's voluntary. 
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      · 2 days ago
      @Max It is horrible sounding (I'm hoping it won't be as bad as the media is making it sounds), but I believe it would have been WAY worse under the conservatives. They really were evil. 
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      · 2 days ago
      @CarolK I had to attend those.  NO ONE ever even suggested it's volountary.  They even gave me an appointment between Christmas and the New Year, so I couldn't spaned time with fammily!  That was pur evil!   But evenually, they've kicked me out after realising how ill I am.  Later, the job center have put me into support group themself.
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      · 3 days ago
      @Matt They will be dragged through the courts if they make it compulsory can't see labour lasting for four years if you haven't lived it on benefits struggling with everyday things don't judge people 
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      · 3 days ago
      @Max I was tricked into some work scheme at the Jobcentre in 2015 through letters they sent when I was in WRAG and thought I had to do it. After 3 or 4 work experience type activities I looked again at the forms and on the back at the bottom in small writing it said "voluntary". I promptly told them I wouldn't be returning again and they accepted it. Hopefully there won't be any pressure if it's voluntary, but they might harass by sending regular notices about this latest scheme. 
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      · 3 days ago
      @CarolK For the moment, it'll soon be compulsory.
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    · 3 days ago
    It’s worth remembering that the changes the tories tried making to WCA was deemed unlawful by the courts. I feel making PIP harder to claim will be targeted at mental health conditions, and this will be discrimination. It’ll be dragged through the courts again, well .. here’s hoping anyway! Wishing everyone  lovely weekend. We’re all in this together and at least we’ve got this wonderful place to come and get facts, and vent to one another. 
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      · 3 days ago
      @Anon N Pip won't, as its just about making it harder, and they are entitled to change the criteria. What the government will hopefully struggle with is actual cash reduction. This can certainly be fought in the courts. It was when the 1st ESA bunch migrated to UC. There was no migration pritection then, and people lost out on thousands. It was deemed unlawful in the courts and we all get transitional pritection now. As an example.
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      · 3 days ago
      @Anon N I would guess quite a few of their “changes” will be discriminatory in the eyes of the law. 
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      · 3 days ago
      @Anon N Not so. The consultation wasn't carried out properly - this was the issue not the planned changes.
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    · 3 days ago
    " The onus on employers to pay for adjustments " 
    So given the choice of an able bodied applicant or a cost intensive applicant who are a business likely to employ ? 
    Businesses exist to make profit not charitable considerations.

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      · 3 days ago
      @Jonny Yes exactly! The government would have to pay for adjustments and likely have to pay the wages of the disabled person, I hate to say it but it's a riskier hire. A lot of us have conditions that are unpredictable, so can't reliably turn up or predict that. This is one of the things PIP is supposed to take into account, if we can repeatedly do something and to the required standard, obviously key to keeping a job. All this talk of cuts won't help, if the employer won't pay and the government won't pay, all this is a non-starter and may well fail before it even gets off the ground.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 3 days ago
      @Jonny Exactly. It’s not rocket science. It’s just making it harder to gain employment for people with disabilities. 
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    · 3 days ago
    I know others have said so, but I’m urging EVERYONE again on here, and EVERYONE claiming a benefit facing drastic cuts, to contact their mp, and let them know the devastating impact these proposals will have on them long term. State the huge personal impact it will have on you. Let’s make it more than the 16000 that responded to last year’s consultation. This is really important. Also,  don’t  bother contacting mr Timms. I did so around a month ago, and received a standardised bs reply from his department, stating he is no longer personally replying to correspondence of this nature due to the volume he’s received. Nice when you can just step back and hide from the reality.
    Do it this weekend. For all our sakes. Will they listen? Well let’s at least try making them. 
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      · 1 days ago
      @A6 Timms is useless.
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      · 2 days ago
      @(No) hope I contacted my mp about my pip i told her I wanted my comments passing to Timms she did 2 months later Timms sent my Mp a letter for me about wca changes I told her is this some kind of joke not only has it taken him 2 months to respond he then send me a letter about wca when I was questioning pip does he not know the difference I told her to let him know I am disabled not stupidand he is insulting me by just sending a general letter that is not even close to tge subject and want a reply to my concerns around pip reviews I have never heard anything back
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 3 days ago
    So, forget managing your daily life, with debilitating condition.  Forget getting to medical appointments.  Doesn't matter you lying unconscious or paralysed for hours. You struggle to remember, what the doctor have told you.   You have no energy, to read medical letters.   Don't worry! Your health doesn't matter! The work coach will have your CV ready for the non-existent job you can perform successfully and make a living! The employer will even provide you with a hospital bed for your comforts!
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    · 3 days ago
    Exactly! The government can have us write the best CVs the world has ever seen and have the greatest interview skills the world has ever heard, but when an employer isn't prepared to take on the 'business risk' of a disabled person, the whole thing very quickly falls apart of course. So the government needs to realise that merely focusing on infinite numbers of work coaches isn't looking like their greatest plan!
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 3 days ago
    I have autism spectrum and depression been out of work since 1995 am 51 this year no point me  writing a cv with that most employers want 2 references and some kind of a work history am currently housebound also 
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    · 3 days ago
    The only new jobs in the economy the government has created thus far are the ones for the work coaches! The economy has not grown to create new jobs, the Business are laying off people due to the NI insurance hike, and there are no new special jobs for the disabled and sick to do that will give them an earning and tolerance from would be jobs for their illnesses. This is all spin by a government not out to actually help the disabled and sick but to help themselves out of an economic mess of their own creation.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 3 days ago
      @Old Mother Spot on @Old Mother - which is why Liz Kendall was telling the truth when she said she doesn't lose sleep worrying about taking the axe to sickness and disability benefits, but was lying when she then claimed she's kept up at night worrying about disabled people who are "desperate for a better life". 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 3 days ago
      @James Thousands of jobs are being offshored to other countries by UK companies.  
      The disabled will be competing with many workers for a diminishing pool of work. 

      But it’s not really about finding work - it’s about the government cutting benefit spending.  
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 3 days ago
      @James "The only new jobs in the economy the government has created thus far are the ones for the work coaches!"

      False.

      It says, "1,000 existing work coaches."

      Therefore, the 1000 work coach have already been there.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 3 days ago
      @James Right here. 100% on the money.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 3 days ago
    Just saw this posted on ITV:

    "Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, has argued that the welfare system is broken and that it is critical to get more people into work. However, the changes are likely to be hugely controversial, including among Labour backbenchers.

    The radical package of reforms will see:

    £5bn in savings by making it harder to qualify for Personal Independence Payments—a benefit not linked to work that is meant to help people with the additional costs of their disability.
    Further savings by freezing PIP payments next year, so they do not rise with inflation.
    Raising the basic rate for Universal Credit paid to those searching for work or in work, while cutting the rate for those judged unfit for work.
    A billion pounds of savings reinvested into major employment support for job seekers.

    The aim of these measures is to massively increase incentives for people to remain in the work-search category of Universal Credit, even if they have a health condition or disability, while also saving more than £6bn a year by the end of the decade.

    It's unclear whether this is currently a proposal to be consulted on as part of the Green Paper due for release this month or if the decision has already been made. If the latter, then the Green Paper seems purely for show, as the government has already decided on the reforms.

    My PIP is not due to run out until 2028—hopefully, they don’t touch current claimants, so we have a little bit of breathing space.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 2 days ago
      @Anon What asteroid?
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      · 3 days ago
      @Pious I hope that asteroid does hit earth and wipes out all of humanity. This is how this disgusting morally bankrupt government is making me feel.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 3 days ago
      @Rik
      Yes, but this could just simply mean that the periods between awards is reduced, e.g. The shortest award for PIP is currently nine months, while the longest is an ongoing award with a 'light touch' review at 10 years. They could simply make new claimants / those undergoing review, have a shorter award, so are assessed more frequently - I can't see them changing people's current awards.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 3 days ago
      @Pious I did mention back in the summer that the Green Paper will be, in effect, a White Paper to be followed by legislation 
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      · 3 days ago
      @Aldo Thank you! I have said it before on here, repeatedly, but for people who have severe mental health issues, this could be really serious. It is really important to think about it as you said.  I have been told all this will take years to implement. When people are already in fear and struggling, saying the worst case scenario could be so damaging
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