DWP benefits update over 'people who could be at work'

DWP sign outside Caxton House in Whitehall, London
-Credit:Andrew Aitchison / In pictures via Getty Images


The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has issued a new update over "people who could be at work". It comes as Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said: "Millions of people have been left without support to get into work and on at work, and completely held back from reaching their potential for far too long, and the record-high cost of long-term sickness benefits is evidence of that fact."

DWP said on X on Friday that the independent "Keep Britain Working" review led by former John Lewis boss, Sir Charlie Mayfield, has now launched. Sir Charlie said in a video: "I've been asked by the Secretary of State to lead a review into economic inactivity, basically people who could be at work but aren't, for reasons of ill health or disability.

"This is a really big issue because that number is rising and, with that, comes all sorts of problems. It's bad for those people, it's bad for employers and, actually, it's really bad for the country because the welfare bill goes up.

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"So I'm going to be looking to see what more employers could be doing and what does the government need to do to help and support employers to make that difference?"

Sir Charlie said he has spent some time speaking to employers in recent weeks, as well as meeting groups that support people with ill health or disabilities. He also said he has spent "a lot of time with DWP", looking at data. He and MP Liz Kendall met Coca Cola Europacific Partners, a "big employer [that is] also really committed to figuring out how can you get people with work-limiting conditions into work, and then how do you keep them in work", he added.

"And we spent some time with people who have work-limiting conditions, listening to them, understanding their stories. What steps have been taken to help them and how that has affected them personally, how it's made their lives different."

Sir Charlie continued: "We've come up with a set of recommendations that are really well thought through and will, hopefully, get adopted but most importantly they'll result in more people with work-limiting conditions staying in work for longer, and some of the people who are out of work with those conditions finding their way back into work."