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Connect to Work

Connect to Work is an employment support programme in England and Wales to help people with disabilities, health conditions or other complex issues find and stay in work. 

It is voluntary and is targeted at people who are economically inactive, meaning that they are not in work, and are not actively seeking and/or able to start work. Participants do not need to be on benefits.

Connect to Work follows the Supported Employment model. Supported Employment is a five-stage model that helps people move into sustainable paid work, and provides in-work support to help their career progression. The model was initially developed for people with a learning disability but over time, it has been increasingly used to support a wider range of disabled people and people with other barriers to work.

Connect to Work was announced in November 2024 in the Get Britain Working white paper, which set out the government’s plans to tackle economic inactivity, and help more people find and stay in work. Connect to Work is part of Pathways to Work, which is the government’s wider programme to support disabled people and those with health conditions to work.

The UK Government has said it will fund the delivery of this programme up to 31 March 2030. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has projected that Connect to Work will cost £1.18 billion from 2023 to 2032. This includes initial setup costs of the programme, before delivery started in local areas in 2024/25. This cost also includes the final stages of evaluation of the programme which will take place from 2030 to 2032.

Between April 2025 to June 2026, there were:

• 29,000 individuals referred
• 25,000 starts on the programme
• 26% of starts were aged 16 to 24

Between May 2025 to June 2026, 4,100 out-of-work participants achieved their first earnings since starting the programme.

Source: Department for Work and Pensions, Connect to Work to June 2026, 10 September 2026

The government has set some key objectives for Connect to Work.

It wants the programme to provide support to approximately 300,000 people by the end of 2029/30, with the intention of supporting participants into employment. Specifically the government aims to have 7 percentage points of additional employment as a direct result of the programme by the end of the five-year programme. This goal is across the combined Connect to Work participant groups in England and Wales.

The government wants Connect to Work to lead to locally-driven and sustainable support programmes. It also wants the programme to improve the general health and wellbeing of participants and help them become financially independent.

The government has estimated that the overall economic return will be around £2 for every £1 invested. These returns are from participants gaining stable employment, lower government expenditure on benefits, higher income from taxes, and broader societal improvements in health and wellbeing.