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Welfare Reform Bill

Amendment 94 94: After Clause 8, insert the following new Clause— "Entitlement to tailored employment and career support (1) All new employment and support allowance (ESA) claimants and existing incapacity benefit claimants who are migrated to ESA, who have a diagnosed mental health problem which impacts on their ability to undertake work, shall be entitled to an assessment carried out under, or linked to, the Access to Work scheme to determine what reasonable adjustments may improve the likelihood of retention should they find employment; and this assessment must be carried out before the claimant may be compelled to undertake any compulsory work-related activity. (2) The assessment to be carried out under subsection (1) shall include evidence-gathering from agencies responsible for a person’s employment support and for the provision of health services here appropriate and must include at least one interview with the claimant. (3) Any reasonable adjustments, recommended by the assessment, shall be funded through the Access to Work scheme and shall be available to any employer wishing to employ the claimant. (4) Available funding for reasonable adjustments shall be communicated to employers by a claimant’s employment adviser and shall be transferable to a new employer in the event that the claimant moves jobs or employers. (5) The assessment shall be reviewed regularly when the claimant moves jobs or employers (or both) to identify any changes to the adjustments required by the claimant."