DWP gives 59,000 claimants 'work and health' coaches in 'sicknote' crackdown

59,000 ill UK benefits claimants will get "work" and "health" coaches to stop them from being unemployed. The latest move in the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) benefits crackdown comes as Rishi Sunak wages war on the "sicknote" culture of Britain.

The £64million WorkWell programme will be tested in 15 areas, including Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and Cornwall. Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said: “WorkWell will link people at risk of unemployment with community services like physiotherapy, counselling, and money advice to ensure the barriers they face don’t hold them back.

“It’s part of a wider plan to deliver the long-term change our country needs to deliver a brighter future for Britain, and improve economic security and opportunity for everyone.” WorkWell will be for anyone with a health condition or disability, including mental health conditions, who wants to work.

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The scheme is part of Mr Sunak’s wider drive to tackle worklessness. Some 2.8 million people are currently economically inactive because of long-term illness, up from 2.1 million before the Covid pandemic, which started back in 2020.

Mr Stride said: “Too many today are falling out of work in a spiral of sickness that harms their finances, their prospects and ultimately their health where, with the right workplace adjustments and help, this needn’t be the case.

“And so we have designed WorkWell, which will integrate health and work advice at the local level, as part of our plan to stem the flow into economic inactivity, grow the economy, and change lives for the better.” A press release said 59,000 people would use WorkWell from October.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “We welcome the cross-Whitehall approach to tackling knotty issues and look forward to seeing these projects get off the ground.” Victoria Atkins, the Health Secretary, said: “Too often, people with disabilities or poor health fall out of work with no support. We have a plan to change that and improve lives so everyone has the opportunity to find fulfilling work. This service will help tens of thousands of people.”

Alison McGovern, Labour’s employment minister, said: “Labour will look closely at any programme supporting people into work. But with a record number of people out of work due to sickness and millions of people on spiralling NHS and mental health waiting lists, we need a long-term plan to fix our NHS and get Britain working, not more pilots skirting around the edges.”