The Department for Work and Pensions recently launched the rollout of its Connect to Work scheme, delivering £338million to 15 areas in England
The Department for Work and Pensions’ Connect to Work programme is being launched across 15 areas in England, spreading out £338million in funding with the aim of providing a £3.8 billion support package to assist disabled and sick people into stable employment over the next five years.
The scheme’s current plans aim to help 300,000 people across England and Wales find work over the next five years by offering services such as coaching, job matching, and support for both participants and employers. However, business leaders have voiced criticisms of the government’s plan.
Mary Maguire, Managing Director at Astute Recruitment Ltd, argues that it’s the recruitment system itself that needs an overhaul, not the support provided to disabled individuals. Speaking to Newspage, she said: “Currently, recruitment firms get irrelevant referrals from unemployment and job offices. These are for able-bodied people looking for work.
“The Government’s latest big and bright idea assumes someone with cancer or another illness doesn’t want to work. They do. It’s other areas of the recruitment strategy that need overhauling.”
Sarah Gatford, Director – Head of Interactions at Sarah Gatford Ltd, also believes the scheme is targeting the wrong side of the issue, arguing that the responsibility should lie with employers instead. She warned that the programme will be doomed to fail until disabled people are no longer forced into workplaces that can’t accommodate them, reports the Liverpool Echo.
She voiced her concerns, stating: “This programme assumes disabled people are the problem. Intensive coaching won’t help if workplaces remain inflexible about hours and communication support, where Access to Work funding has been slashed and whilst employers see adjustments as expensive hassles.
“Someone who needs frequent hospital appointments will not be seen as reliable. Until we stop forcing people into systems that weren’t designed for them, these programmes will keep recycling the same people through the same failures. It’s another band-aid on a fundamentally broken system that expects sick and disabled people to adapt rather than workplaces to change.”
Scott Gallacher, Director at Rowley Turton, also highlighted the job market aspect of this predicament. He observed: “Job vacancies have been falling for three years, while Labour’s rise in employers’ National Insurance and the Minimum Wage adds to employment costs.
“With firms turning to technology and AI instead of hiring, this scheme could be doomed to failure without real opportunities at the end. Where are the ‘good’ jobs for them to go into. Helping the long-term sick and disabled into work is welcome, but the government seems to have forgotten that crucial detail.”
The programme has already been launched in several early delivery areas such as West London, where £42.8million was provided to assist 10,800 individuals into employment through specialist coaches. Government reports indicate these initial rollouts have delivered measurable results.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said: “For too long, millions of people have been denied the support they need to get back to health and back to work. It’s bad for their living standards, it’s bad for their families, and it’s bad for the economy.
“That’s why we’re taking decisive action by investing millions of pounds so sick or disabled people can overcome the barriers they face and move out of poverty and into good, secure jobs as part of our Plan for Change.”
Cllr Tom Hunt, Chair of the LGA’s Inclusive Growth Committee, said: “The Government’s decision to provide grant funding to councils and mayoral areas to deliver Connect to Work is a positive step. Evidence shows that councils are best placed to understand and respond to the needs of their communities, and the LGA has long called for a more local approach to helping people back into employment.
“Connect to Work will enable councils and mayors, working with partners, to design tailored support for people who are currently out of the labour market due to health conditions, disability, or complex needs. This not only facilitates supporting people move closer to work but also helps reduce wider social and financial pressures on communities and services, which helps reduce long-term welfare dependency, and creates stronger and more productive, resilient local economies.”
Further details about Connect to Work can be found on the Gov.uk website.
Full list of areas Connect to Work will be delivered in first:
- Central London Forward
- Greater Essex
- Hampshire
- Hereford, Shropshire, and Telford & Wrekin
- Greater Lincolnshire
- Local London
- Norfolk
- Solent
- South London Partnership
- South Yorkshire
- Staffordshire & Stoke on Trent
- Suffolk
- Surrey
- Warwickshire
- Worcestershire