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Employment advisors move into GP surgeries

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The government have announced that employment advisors will be moving into GP surgeries and mental health services in nine areas of England, in order to help disabled claimants move into work.

£167 million has been invested in the Connect to Work programme in the following areas:

  • North East
  • Buckinghamshire
  • Oxfordshire
  • West Sussex and Brighton
  • Berkshire
  • Devon, Plymouth, and Torbay
  • South Midlands
  • York and North Yorkshire

According to the DWP, the programme 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.”

Connect to Work is voluntary, claimants can decline to be referred or to take part.

The support provided in this round of funding includes:

  • Using Virtual Reality immersive classrooms to support people with interview practice.
  • Running workshops to improve participants’ confidence and communication skills.
  • Helping parents and families access affordable childcare so they can re-enter the workforce.

However, at the same time as the DWP announced the latest stage of the roll-out of Connect to Work, the British Standards Institution reported that 31% of employers are turning to AI rather than taking on entry level employees. 

This is an issue that is only likely to grow in the coming years. For many claimants who have been out of the jobs market for a long period, but who wish to try to return, entry level jobs may be their only option.

It is hard to see how initiatives like Connect to Work can succeed unless significant encouragement and support, including financial support, is provided to employers.  This, however, does not appear to be forthcoming.

In fact, stealth cuts to Access to Work will simply make it less likely that employers will consider taking on disabled employees.

But the team at the DWP remain ever positive, with minister for health Stephen Kinnock saying “This investment is just what the doctor ordered and will help thousands more find the help they need to get back into a job.”

Whilst secretary of state Pat McFadden assured the public “We are giving people a hand up, not a handout, realising their potential and providing them with the skills to succeed as part of our Plan for Change.”

There’s more information on Connect to Work in this DWP press release.

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  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Ella
    · 10 days ago
    Disgusting, people go to the Dr when they are ill or injured for medical help, it isn't the time or place to be harassing them about work. All this will do is make people turn to A&E or UCC's instead of going to their GP, which increases demand on those services, or, they will avoid seeking help at all
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Matt
    · 16 days ago
    In terms of employment, and I have checked the annual reports of the Royal National College for the Blind which I attended in the mid-1980's, the vast majority of leavers went into the public sector, or very large organisations, eg Barclays Bank, who have the resources to deal with disabled staff. And a greater willingness to have reasonable adjustments. Expecting small/medical size enterprises to do the same is unrealistic. Therefore, if the Govt is really keen to get as many disabled people into employment they will have to encourage applicants to tailor their applications to those who may be willing to employ them.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Elaine H
      · 9 days ago
      @Matt Exactly right and if a disabled and sick person is sent for a job then the employer finds out the applicant has these issues they definitely will not take them on. This government is in its own world as each day businesses are closing and making employees unemployed… why hasn’t the press asked this government where all this so called jobs will be coming from?
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Ilo
      · 10 days ago
      @Obsidian76 The DWP can't apply this in their own offices. They have been sued successfully for disability discrimination. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Obsidian76
      · 10 days ago
      @Matt Government's of all hues have been applying the stick to Disabled people to get us into employment (work will set us free etc) it hasnt worked and inflicted suffering. How about applying the stick to employers who routinly refuse to accommodate disabled peoples needs and manage out anyone with an illness or long term condition. Lets start with making it a criminal offence to discriminate against disabled people, 5 years max sentence and unlimited fines for employment discrimination. That should concentrate employers minds regardless of size. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    manny26
    · 16 days ago
    It will just make more ill people not going down their GP.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Banannie
    · 19 days ago
    I worked for decades with illnesses and I was also the one who was always top of the redundancy list, victim of constructive dismissals, being hauled in to HR for disciplinaries for being too sick to work. As much as I tried for decades I didn't stop the diseases making me too ill to function and needing more than the 9 days off a year, that HR then set as a trigger to getting rid of you. That's neurological disease for you. The thanks I got for doing that, was disabling chronic illness that has left me not being able to do anything reliably now, a couple of cancer diagnosis, constant burnout...oh and a late diagnosis of autism. I really regret pushing myself for all those years. I used to sit on my commute feeling so ill wanting to kill myself then.  I shall never return to paid, contractual work, no employer wanted me before.when my illnesses became apparent and they wont want me now in my 50s. I shall carry on doing sporadic ad hoc voluntary work, which I have always done since my teens, and that is all. If the GP offered this nonsense, I would be firmly refusing as I know how harmful such interactions would be for me.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    and u know it.
    · 19 days ago
    what world do theses politicians live in (oh that would be 90k+, no sense of reality world).

    there are no jobs.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Ilo
      · 10 days ago
      @Kevin1342 Does encouragement cure Schizophrenia? No, there is no cure Kevin. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Ilo
      · 10 days ago
      @The Termagant Really? They should tell you to sit in the fire escape and await rescue or be evacuated by evac chair by fire wardens. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      The Termagant
      · 10 days ago
      @Kevin1342
      The 100 Year's War was happening in 1342 and the Black Death was about to hit our shores.  Some disabled people feel that they are fighting battles against their own government and their disabilities. 
      I worked until I could hardly walk and was told by managers that maybe I should look for work elsewhere . If the fire alarm went off I was told to sit by the lift door and pretend I'd gone down( as stairs were the only way we were permitted to use). This was BT, the first utility company to be privatised. Profit before people. It hasn't changed .
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Cherry
      · 10 days ago
      @Kevin1342 Oh Kevin, you so obviously a troll. Shame on you, mnow go away!
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Sarah
      · 10 days ago
      @Kevin1342 The fact that services exist doesn't mean they're right for all the people they claim to be there for. So many times the special disabled pathway is tougher than the same employer's standard recruitment process, or they help very few people, or it isn't a real job. When it comes to disabled people they get away with a lot. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Helen Galloway
    · 19 days ago
    The whole thing is ridiculous I mean are they going to force the employers to take us. It will not work and will make them look silly. Of course they are hoping that people will just be able to cope like someone with no disabilities. That will come unstuck. Proving the point that people are too ill to work.  I plan to ask my surgery what’s happening but I’ve already fallen foul of a couple of DWP busybodies at our GP surgery by default. So I’m going to get a representative assigned that they have to go through. I can’t be responsible for my actions as I hold them wholly responsible for my mental breakdown and don’t want any of them near me ever again . No matter what it takes. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      AnthonyDDI
      · 10 days ago
      @Helen Galloway I get where you are coming from. I'm left in a chair for life and with mental health issues because of their stupid assessments and harassment. Don't want to go into details here as this is a public forum. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      James h
      · 19 days ago
      @Helen Galloway @Helen Galloway So you have actually seen or had dwp people at your gp surgery already your right this is all getting ridiculous all this snooping round into our private lives and I thought the looking into our bank accounts was bad I like probably many will be telling the dwp to stay clear and get out the way at the go appointment  I suppose it so difficult to see a doctor now anyway and some fit notes are done by the pharmacy 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Fed up and worried
    · 20 days ago
    I wonder where the government got this £167 million which has already been invested and more so how it is going to financially support this initiative in the future. 
    £167,000,000 invested in 8 areas that’s approx £21 million per area! 
    At the same time the same government it’s doing all it can to take away from the most vulnerable group of people, the disabled. 
    Can no one see the irony? 

    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Blondie
      · 10 days ago
      @Fed up and worried That money could have been better spent than on a jobs-worth. Perhaps more GP's, nurses or pay back to the huge billions they had to borrow last month. 🤔 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      LJM
      · 10 days ago
      @Fed up and worried Hi 
      Yes, I can see the irony. Of spending £167 million. When they've already reduced the welfare bill down to bare bones. So, where's this money coming from , that they say they 'HAVENT GOT'???
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Azalea
      · 10 days ago
      @Fed up and worried Yes, there's never any money for anything positive. That money could go a long way in preventing illness with portable HEPA units. Well done to Sadiq Khan and Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah for doing that in London schools and I hope that will be taken up everywhere. Prevent people getting ill in the first place.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Old Mother
      · 19 days ago
      @Fed up and worried And which tech company benefitted from this lucrative contract. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    CC
    · 20 days ago
    Labour same old approach, using schemes like this instead of working on improving the health of people.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    The Dogmother
    · 20 days ago
    If I could live off the grid, eat grass and leaves to survive, I'd do it, and have nothing to do with benefits or the dwp,i honestly can't get my head around the continuous beating we suffer. My swimming demented mind tries to think of so many different ways to survive without the need to claim money from those who detest us. Think of the calm and serene image of never having to fight, to form fill, to have to read and watch out for every new deplorable oppression, and usually ill informed nonsense they press down on us. I know its pie in the sky, but the freedom would be unimaginable. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      LJM
      · 10 days ago
      @The Dogmother That's exactly what I ve been thinking. Wouldn't it be nice to "live" , instead of just "existing"... 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Sophie
      · 10 days ago
      @The Dogmother They do not seem to realise that the way to make people well is a quite different path to harrasment, snooping, form filling, forcing people into slave Labour schemes, and general oppression.  Job coaches in doctor’s surgeries?  What planet do these politicians live on?  
      To give people quality of life ( two words you never hear from the mouths of English politicians) there has to be an about turn directly the in the opposite direction.  You have to create quality jobs, quality pay, and good conditions if you are ill.  You have to consult those who are ill and disabled, not impose the unsuitable on them.  This will be a massive waste of time and money and add to the atmosphere of oppression fast building up in this country.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Denby
      · 20 days ago
      @The Dogmother Maybe the odd person that's caught in the DWP Dragnet,could work at home if their are the job roles.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    HBS
    · 20 days ago
    and where are the employers who will take these people on? 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Ilo
      · 10 days ago
      @Kevin1342 The Open University? Well they closed down many regional offices and centralised most of their admissions and student support down to Milton Keynes making a lot of staff redundant. Unless you're qualified to be an associate lecturer? Otherwise that's pretty pointless. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      LJM
      · 10 days ago
      @Kevin1342 You've been very lucky , then , count your blessings, but don't wish it on anyone else, whom is less capable, than yourself... 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      LJM
      · 10 days ago
      @HBS EXACTLY MY SENTIMENT!! WHERE ARE THE EMPLOYERS Who WILL TAKE THOSE PEOPLE ON??? WITH DECENT PAY, WITH DECENT CONDITIONS... NOWHERE, IS THE ANSWER TO THAT ..!! 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      K
      · 15 days ago
      @Kevin1342 Not entirely true, having worked at the DWP I can say it was hard to get to interview stage for disabled folks, employers had a way of avoiding employing anyone who may need sick leave down the line. Many supermarkets & small retailers require able bodied folks to keep up the pace, for example stacking shelves to targets.  We have AI already in self service & shops taking simple service jobs from able bodied humans, I can't see this changing as AI is cheaper for employers in the long run. Schools need to make checks before employing anyone in a classroom, some jobseekers with mental health issues may not be suited to a noisy, busy classroom in primary schools. 

      It's not as simple to find a good employer as you may think, it's actually cruel to keep raising the pension age when many have left full time work with health related issues, the gov bringing in building and construction work for disabled/unwell folks is absurd. No site will take a risk on the physically disabled or a mentally fragile person on scaffolding. Building sites function with fit young men ( under 60) for a reason! Upper body strength & agility! of course the "unwell" won't have this physical capacity!

      Pushing certain mums to work whilst allowing others not to will bring nothing but confusion/resentment, at the JC I refused to pressure women with under 5s into jobs that allowed no flexibility in hours, why is the state offering to pay childminders but not mum? It's cheaper to allow a mum to look after her own pre school child. 

      The welfare reforms aren't in the interests of disabled & unwell people, if a younger person needs support to find some productive meaning in life I can see the logic but to push the older age group - mid 50s to mid 60s - into unstable jobs is far from decent behaviour from a gov, @ the HoC MPs pensions & perks are assured from their 50s. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Kevin1342
      · 19 days ago
      @HBS There are, in reality, if you look for them many. The Open University (employed myself and many other disabled people),  many engineering companies I have worked for and many schools.

  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Neil Cook
    · 20 days ago
    Besides they'll be in those locations now won't they and not just from 2028?
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Neil Cook
    · 20 days ago
    Wonder why they left out the north west from the list or do they have something else in mind for us?
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    tom
    · 20 days ago
      Anyone else seen this woman's  Video's The Justice Journals I hope links are ok?
    https://youtu.be/-yzPNEShYtY
    ?si=7eC_pcs2iLLVGvPm
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    keepingitreal
    · 20 days ago
    I said as much on a previous thread and I stand by it - this is impossible and nonsensical - there are so many welfare, duty of care, confidentiality, logistical issues. Just not achievable. I felt the same when the full raft of welfare cuts was proposed earlier this year and look what happened.

    Yes @Quietplease, they're full of bright ideas
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Ilo
      · 10 days ago
      @The Dogmother Don't give them ideas about microchipping 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Old mother
      · 19 days ago
      @Quietplease It is sinister.  Checking up on disabled / ill people and perhaps GPs too. 

      Such a waste of money. 

      Would be better spent on genuine health and rehabilitation programmes.  
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      The Dogmother
      · 20 days ago
      @Denby Like all the other reforms that started as paper talk.  Still sh*t piled ontop of more sh*t to think on.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      keepingitreal
      · 20 days ago
      @The Dogmother I can't see GPs cooperating. Who apart from medics are equipped to cope with anyone there specifically because they are ill?

      A one stop gob, swab and job shop? Maybe they could renew my library books while they're at it. Then I'll pop round to Kwik Fit for a massage. Oh, oh I see, not that kind of fit.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Denby
      · 20 days ago
      @The Dogmother Alot of it is paper talk at the moment.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Neil Cook
    · 21 days ago
    I see our local downvoter g6as visited 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      The Dogmother
      · 20 days ago
      @Neil Cook @Neil Cook like a phantom they appear with all the strength of their down vote. 😂Pay no heed. 
      Always lurking always near. We've coped with far worse. Keep on commenting regardless. 👍
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Denby
    · 21 days ago
    The advisors are only going to a few locations too start off with and it will be voluntary so theirs no point in worrying.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      The Dogmother
      · 20 days ago
      @Denby @Denby I do hope you are right. It's voluntary... for now. These things have a way of escalating rapidly. A pilot scheme here and there soon becomes a full roll out as its "Working well" even thought we all know it hasn't even had a chance to get going most of the time,its just another way to make us squirm. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Neil Cook
    · 21 days ago
    Does this mean that come wca abolition in 2028 we are all screwed even if on pip regardless if it's level, and therefore we will get no peace of mind whatsoever?. I am absolutely ruddy terrified of this. There are going to be so many people seriously considering taking the most unfortunate way out of this I'm very sorry to say.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    (No) hope
    · 21 days ago
    So how will it work then? Will they have access to a list of patients expected in the surgery that day, or will they just target anyone who looks of working age? Yet another angle to harass the ill, sick and disabled from. They’ll put them in Lidl or Aldi next, as I’m sure they assume that most of us shop there.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Jon C
      · 10 days ago
      @John It’s getting to the point where you will have to take a solicitor to the GPs!
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Angela Forbes
      · 10 days ago
      @(No) hope I think they are also forgetting that people can be in work and still have health problems and disabilities. Harassment like this regardless of your employment status is unlikely to help employment prospects but is highly likely to cause a huge amount of stress to those already facing health challenges. I can’t see it progressing past the pilot stage. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      John
      · 21 days ago
      @(No) hope In the world of the politicians and the right wing media hard working tax payers shop at Lidl and Aldi and catch the bus home, while people on welfare shop at Waitrose filling their brand new free BMWs up with their shopping. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      John
      · 21 days ago
      @(No) hope You go to see your GP about something and they will ask you if you would like to be referred to the onsite DWP employee for help. As you know work is good for you and just what the doctor ordered. At least according to the Minister for Health. You have the option of saying no.

      Increasing the future who knows is GPs will get bonuses for meeting targets on referrals or finding people fit for work.

      Placing DWP work coaches in Community Mental Health Team strikes me as possibly even more problematic. As the idea is getting a job is part of getting and staying well. When for many it will be detrimental to those aims. Although again people have the option to decline the offer of DWP help. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    John
    · 21 days ago
    The government has stated from 2028 the WCA will be abolished. And those not on PIP daily living component will be subject to up to full conditionality at the discretion of a DWP work coach. And for those on PIP daily living component and so the new UC health premium it wants to start off with mandatory support conversations. Then look at increasing conditionality if too few take up the offers of help towards and into work. So voluntary schemes today look likely to become the mandatory schemes of tomorrow. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      pollenpath
      · 18 days ago
      @Biscuit Denby is genuine, they have been a poster on the B&W forum for years and have had to fight extremely hard for their child's benefit. Always tries to encourage and motivate people on the forum who have to appeal. I agree about Bert and RU and a new one near the top of this thread, on the other hand. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Denby
      · 19 days ago
      @Biscuit We cant all be Bert surely?
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Biscuit
      · 19 days ago
      @Chips and gravy Include Denby in that as well. Almost identical posting style to Bert and Rookies uncle. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      John
      · 21 days ago
      @kladow177 It is what Minister of State for Social Security and Disability Sir Stephen Timms said to MPs in a parliamentary committee hearing about the welfare reforms. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Dbr100
      · 21 days ago
      @Chips and gravy It's definitely Bert, he's been trolling this forum for a long time with comments trying to get a rise out of people.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Sam
    · 21 days ago
    Voluntarily or not I'd struggle to enter a building that i knew a DWP person was working in, thinking on it id probably avoid that area in general. 
    If I found out that they were in my therapist building I'd never ever ask for help

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