By David Bentley
Copyright birminghammail
The Department for Work and Pensions is targeting seven Midlands areas as part of huge new plans to support disability claimants into work. The Department for Work and Pensions announced a £338 million expansion of the Connect to Work programme of tailored employment support. It says hundreds of thousands of sick and disabled people on benefits, including PIP and the health element of Universal Credit , will now get personalised help to find “good, secure jobs.” The new funding will be delivered to 15 areas across England in total. It’s part of a £3.8 billion jobs package for sick or disabled people, which is aimed at unlocking work and boosting living standards. READ MORE: The objective is to offer support to more than 85,000 people who are sick, disabled, or face complex barriers to work. The local authority areas in the Midlands that are the focus of the expansion include Herefordshire, Shropshire , and Telford & Wrekin . Together, they will receive a total of £10.7m to offer support to 2,650 people across those three councils. Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent jointly receive £19 million to assist 5,250 people into work, while Warwickshire gets £8.2 million to provide employment help for 2,050 people, and Worcestershire is being handed £7.7 million to support 2,000 people. The DWP says the scheme provides “intensive, personalised help including individual coaching from employment specialists, job matching services, and ongoing support for both participants and employers to ensure sustainable employment outcomes.” Around 300,000 people across England and Wales are set to benefit over the next five years, it said. People can self-refer or get access through healthcare professionals, local authorities, and voluntary sector partners. With 2.8 million people out of work due to ill-health – one of the highest rates in the G7 – the initiative forms part of the Government’s plan to get Britain working again and deliver an 80 per cent employment rate by overhauling jobcentres, tackling economic inactivity through local plans, and delivering a Youth Guarantee so every young person is either earning or learning. Among those out of work, over one in four cite sickness as the cause – more than double the 2012 figure of one in ten – highlighting an urgent need to break down barriers faced by disabled people and those with health conditions. The announcement came shortly after the Universal Credit Bill received Royal Assent and officially became legislation. Coming into force in April next year, the new act will “rebalance” Universal Credit to reduce incentives to be written off as unfit for work. It will increase the standard allowance for around four million households while halving the amount paid to those who declare they are unable to work. Get breaking news on BirminghamLive WhatsApp . Join our dedicated community for the latest updates sent straight to your phone as they happen. You can find out more about cost-of-living issues in our Money Saving Newsletter, which is sent out daily via email with all the updates you need to know on pensions , PIP , Universal Credit , benefits, finances, bills, and shopping discounts. Get the top stories in your inbox to browse through at a time that suits you.
