2 December 2004 - £220 million expansion of successful scheme helping people on incapacity benefits get back to work
A major expansion of a successful scheme to help people on incapacity benefits back to work to cover a third of the country was announced in the Chancellor’s Pre-Budget report today.
Extra support will also be developed and trialed for new and trainee GPs, as part of the Government drive to end the “sick note culture”.
Work and Pensions Secretary Alan Johnson said today: “This major expansion means that people across the country will now be able to benefit from the success of our ground-breaking initiative Pathways to Work.
Early evidence is very promising with twice as many people on incapacity benefits in these areas moving off benefit and into work. Today’s announcement means even more people will be swapping sick notes for payslips and getting a salary rather than a benefit.
“Nine out of ten people expect to work again when they first claim incapacity benefits – we’re helping them meet those aspirations. With a thriving economy, record low unemployment and over half a million job vacancies, everyone should have the chance to work.”
The full package announced today includes:
- Extension of current Pathways to Work scheme to a third of the country, covering the most disadvantaged areas and local authority areas with the greatest concentration of incapacity benefit claimants, starting from October 2005. Including existing pilots, the total area covered has 900,000 incapacity benefit claimants.
- The seven existing Pathway to Work pilots will continue beyond 2006 and will increasingly provide support for more longer-term existing claimants through the Pathways approach.
- Additional funding of £30 million to ensure the continued success of the New Deal for Disabled People.
- By 2006 every Jobcentre Plus district will have specialist personal advisers to help people on incapacity benefits.
- Across the country all new incapacity benefit claimants will be required to attend a work focused interview after eight weeks of their claim from October 2005. It will also now be mandatory for them to complete an action plan to keep them in touch with work opportunities.
- New support to help people on Incapacity Benefit try out part-time working and self-employment through reform of the “permitted work” and test-trading rules.
To help end the “sick note culture” a range of support will also be made available to GPs, including:
- Improved training materials will be developed for new and existing doctors to help them support patients get back to work effectively.
- A pilot scheme which will enable doctors to give patients better advice on fitness for work and rehabilitation, making better use of specialist GPs dealing with mental health, musculo-skeletal and other conditions and placing employment advisers in GP surgeries.
Notes for editors
- Pathways to Work pilots offer early, sustained support to involve Jobcentre Plus, the NHS and the voluntary sector to support people with health conditions and disabilities.
- There are seven pilots – the first wave was launched in October 2003 (Renfrewshire, Derby and Bridgend) with a further four launched in the second wave in April 2004 (Essex, Gateshead and S. Tyneside, Somerset and E. Lancs).
- The extension of the scheme announced today will cover additionally the following Jobcentre Plus districts: Durham; Tees Valley; Lancashire West; Lanarkshire and East Dunbarton; Staffordshire; Barnsley and Rotherham (to be merged with Doncaster); Manchester (to be merged with Salford and Trafford); Cumbria; Greater Mersey; Liverpool (to be merged with Wirral); Eastern Valleys; Swansea Bay (to be merged with West Wales); Glasgow; and City of Sunderland.
- The Pathways to Work pilots include:
- Support from a highly skilled personal adviser and contact every month in the first 8 months of the claim when people can be most readily helped back to work
- Groundbreaking NHS rehabilitation support so that they can learn to manage and cope with their health condition (e.g. back pain, angina, mental illness) so they can get back to work
- Strong local partnerships with the New Deal for Disabled People - voluntary and private sector employment advisers
- 40 a week return to work credit once they get a job so that it always pays to get back to work
- Work with local GPs and employers to ensure people on IB are not discouraged from working again
- The Pathways pilots have targeted new IB claimants and existing claimants who volunteer. The approach is being extended to those who have been on IB for over a year from early 2005.
- Early evaluation of Pathways to Work published on 30 November showed that double the number of people are getting jobs through Jobcentre Plus compared to last year. There was also between eight and ten per cent increase in the rate of people coming off incapacity benefits after four months of their claim compared to non-pilot areas and five times as many people in pilot areas joining New Deal for Disabled People compared to old-style jobcentres.
For more information: contact John Fennessy on 020 7238 0762
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