DWP launches reformed illness support packages

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed that the Personal Support Package aimed at helping people with health conditions will roll out from April, along with wider reforms to ensure a fair welfare system.

The Personal Support Package includes £330 million of additional employment support over four years for people are unable to work due to illness or disability, but may be able to in the future.

According to a statement from the DWP, this will also include: 300 new Disability Employment Advisers in jobcentres across the country; a one-to-one health and work conversation with a Jobcentre Plus Work Coach to help raise confidence in managing a health condition, when appropriate; and the introduction, from the summer, of a new Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Claimant

Commitment for disabled people or those with a health condition who are out of work, setting out the support the Jobcentre will provide and what is expected of claimants;

The reform will also provide personalised support to new ESA claimants placed in the work- related activity group, and new claimants of Universal Credit’s equivalent group, to help them move closer to the jobs market and, when they are ready, into work.