The tax incentives available to employers to encourage investment in employee health and wellbeing include relief for employer-funded medical treatment up to £500 where there has been a recommendation from an occupational health professional and the employee has been absent for 28 days.

To inform future policy decisions, the Government is supporting the West Midlands Combined Authority to undertake a pilot study to assess whether and how financial incentives affect SME actions to improve health and wellbeing in the workplace.

The Government will consult this year on measures to encourage and support all employers to reduce health-related job loss, and to improve access to occupational health.

The Government wants to see employers of all sizes create healthy workplaces where people can thrive and will consult this year on measures to encourage and support all employers to play their part and to improve access to occupational health.

Improving employment opportunities for people with learning difficulties, including those with dyslexia, is a Government priority.

When employers sign up to our Disability Confident scheme they are asked to make specific meaningful offers of opportunities for disabled people, such as jobs, apprenticeships, internships, and work experience opportunities. Disability Confident employers who use the Find a Job service to advertise jobs can now add a searchable Disability Confident tag to their vacancies. This allows disabled people to find Disability Confident employers who are offering jobs that match their skills. Over 10,500 employers have signed up to Disability Confident, and their number continues to grow.

Where people with dyslexia require additional support at work above the level of reasonable adjustments, the Access to Work scheme can help. In 2018, 3,440 people whose primary medical condition was recorded as dyslexia had an Access to Work award approved.

We have not made an assessment that would specifically address this question. However, ill health among working age people, which prevents them working, costs the economy around £100bn a year. Occupational health can prevent work-related illness, unnecessary sickness absence, people falling out of work, as well as supporting business productivity and potentially reducing NHS pressures.

We have worked with a wide range of stakeholders, including through our Occupational Health Expert Group, to shape measures to improve access to high quality occupational health. We will set out our proposals in a consultation exercise in 2019.

Once someone has been awarded Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which can be paid at one of eight rates, that award will be reviewed. Reviews of PIP are a key part of the benefit to ensure that awards remain correct where needs may change and that we maintain contact with the claimant, both features that are missing from its predecessor Disability Living Allowance. The length of an award is based on an individual’s circumstances and can vary from nine months to an on-going award, with a light touch review after ten years.

We introduced updated guidance for case managers and an updated PIP Assessment Guide in 2018 which will ensure that those people who receive the highest level of support under PIP, and where their needs are unlikely to change or may get worse, will now receive an ongoing award with a light touch review at the ten-year point. In line with PIP’s aim to be needs-based rather than condition-based, the change to the guidance is not condition specific. However, we believe the changes will ensure that those with severe and/or progressive conditions receive the most appropriate award duration that reflects their condition and the needs arising.

We have not made an assessment that would specifically address this question.

As outlined in the Government’s 2017 Command Paper ‘Improving Lives; the future of work, health and disability’ we have commissioned research to better understand occupational health provision. Findings are due to be published in 2019.

We have worked with a wide range of stakeholders, including through our Occupational Health Expert Group, to shape measures to improve access to high quality occupational health. We will set out our proposals in a consultation exercise in 2019.

We have not made an assessment that would specifically address this question.

As outlined in the Government’s 2017 Command Paper ‘Improving Lives; the future of work, health and disability’ we have commissioned research to better understand occupational health provision. Findings are due to be published in 2019.

We have worked with a wide range of stakeholders, including through our Occupational Health Expert Group, to shape measures to improve access to high quality occupational health. We will set out our proposals in a consultation exercise in 2019.

The British Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners agreed to the revised wording of the ESA65B on 4 August 2016.

The Department is committed to ensuring all of its communications are clear, accurate and understandable and we continuously improve our letters. We engage regularly with the welfare benefits advice sector and disability charities and take into account all of the feedback we receive.

We have received comments from a number of sources including MPs, stakeholder organisations and GPs on the current version of the ESA65B letter and will take all of their feedback into account when revising it.

The British Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners agreed to the revised wording of the ESA65B on 4 August 2016.

The Department is committed to ensuring all of its communications are clear, accurate and understandable and we continuously improve our letters. We engage regularly with the welfare benefits advice sector and disability charities and take into account all of the feedback we receive.

We have received comments from a number of sources including MPs, stakeholder organisations and GPs on the current version of the ESA65B letter and will take all of their feedback into account when revising it.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is not based on condition or on whether it is or isn’t lifelong, it instead is based on daily living or mobility needs. On 31^st October 2018, there were 1,430 Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims in payment that were in receipt of an ongoing award in the Brighton and Hove Local Authority area and 412,070 that were in receipt of an ongoing award in Great Britain.

Ongoing awards do not have an end date, but will be subject to a light touch review at the 10 year point. We have recently amended the guidance to ensure that all those awarded the highest level of support under PIP, and who have needs which will stay the same or deteriorate, will receive an ongoing award with a light touch review at the 10 year point.

Source: PIP ADS

Notes:

• An ongoing award is defined as an award which has a blank end date in the PIP ADS.
• Figures are based on the latest outcome for each case and will take into account the effect of a Mandatory Reconsideration, an Appeal, Award Review or Change of Circumstances on a claim.
• Normal Rules only
• Data has been rounded to the nearest 10.
• This is unpublished data. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.

We have not made an assessment that would specifically address this question. However, in 2017, the occupational health market was estimated to be worth around £800m a year.

In 2014, 51% of all GB employees had access to occupational health services provided for by their employer.

We have worked with a wide range of stakeholders, including through our Occupational Health Expert Group, to shape measures to improve access to high quality occupational health. We will set out our proposals in a consultation exercise in 2019.

Research with claimants who have recently undergone a Work Capability Assessment is undertaken by a different organisation to the provider delivering the assessments. The telephone survey is voluntary and is based on a set of questions agreed with the department.

The Department also undertakes its own survey which is designed to monitor claimant satisfaction with the services offered by the department and to enable claimant views to inform improvements to the delivery of benefits and services. This information is published on gov.uk.

Information is not held on the number of home Work Capability Assessments (a) requested or (c) refused for Universal Credit claimants in the last 12 months.

However, I can confirm that over 1,000 home Work Capability Assessments for Universal Credit claimants were (b) granted in the last 12 months.

New claims to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) have now stopped, however claimants can receive the ESA component of Universal Credit (UC). Claimants may also be entitled to New Style ESA which can be claimed alongside Universal Credit if the claimant has paid or been credited with sufficient National Insurance contributions, satisfying the New Style ESA eligibility conditions.

In 2018 the number of claimants who attended an assessment appointment for Personal Independence Payment that were sent home unseen by Independent Assessment Service (IAS) due to the unavailability of a Health Professional was 5,700.

This figure has been rounded to the nearest 100.

We recognise the challenges for customers who cannot access our online services. We will have a choice of other channels available including assisted digital where customers can ask for assistance from friends, family or other organisations, or by contacting DWP by phone or face to face.

We expect to increase this digital uptake over time, but are aware that we need to keep these channels open during and after our transition to digital.

The Work Capability Assessment is not a condition of entitlement to housing costs within Universal Credit.

Due to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the number of assessments for Personal Independence Payment held in private gyms and spas is only held for the last two years, not the three that has been requested.

For the last two years for which data is available; covering March 2017 to February 2019, the total number of assessments held in private gyms and spas in (a) County Durham, (b) North East of England and (c) the UK is set out in the table below.

These numbers have been supplied direct from the provider and have been rounded to the nearest 100. The answers to (a) and (b) are the same as all assessments carried out in private gyms and spas in the North East of England are carried out in County Durham.

Capita do not carry out PIP assessments at private gyms or spa locations; the numbers included in this response are from Independent Assessment Services (IAS).

IAS uses its network of supply chain partners and their estates to help in the delivery of PIP consultations. All locations comply with the required contractual specifications and all of the sites used by IAS have been selected to ensure that they meet the standards set by the Department.

The Severe Conditions Criteria was introduced on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) on 29 September 2017 and means that claimants with the most severe and lifelong health conditions or disabilities will no longer be routinely reassessed. We worked closely with the assessment provider, the Centre for Health and Disability Assessments (CHDA), healthcare professionals and disability charities when developing the criteria to cease re-assessments for people with the most severe health conditions or disabilities (unless there is a change in their circumstances).

Since August 2018 we also introduced updated guidance for Personal Independence Payment claimants to ensure that claimants on the highest level of support, whose needs will not improve, receive an ongoing award with a light touch review at the 10-year point.

The information requested on the length of time on the severe conditions criteria list is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The information requested is not centrally collated for Universal Credit claimants and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The available information on the number of people on the ESA caseload who have been assessed as meeting the severe conditions criteria, by primary medical condition group and claim duration is shown in the following table.

Number of Employment and Support Allowance claimants on the ESA caseload who have been assessed as meeting the severe conditions criteria, by primary medical condition group and by claim duration, as at the end of May 2018, Great Britain

Source: Employment Support Allowance and Work Capability Assessment dataset and Work and Pensions Longitudinal Survey.

Notes:

1. Statistical disclosure control has been applied to these tables to avoid the release of confidential data. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 100. ‘-‘ denotes nil or under 50.
2. The figures may not match with published sources as they have been derived from a different source.
3. Individuals may have moved into the severe condition criteria list during their claim.
4. Medical condition classification is based on the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, published by the World Health Organisation.
5. Medical condition is based on evidence provided at the start of the claim, this in itself does not confer entitlement to Employment Support Allowance and may not represent a claimant’s most recent medical condition.
6. For reporting purposes, the disability conditions as recorded on the Employment Support Allowance Benefit system have been mapped to reflect as closely as possible the appropriate ICD10 code.
7. Where someone has more than one diagnosis or disabling condition, only the predominant one is reported on in these statistics, which should be the most predominant condition.
8. From 29th September 2017 the Work Capability Assessment criteria changed for some ESA claimants. Claimants in the Support Group no longer need to go for reassessment if they meet the severe condition criteria.