Select committee: Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 24
Second Report - Disability employment gap
Published 30 Jul 2021
Paragraph 104
Addressed to Department for Work and Pensions
Work and Pensions Committee Disability employment gap All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Our predecessor Committee recommended that the Department should improve the effectiveness of the Access to Work central call centre system. In response, the Department said that it recognised the importance of taking action to correct the issues with the system. We have heard, however, that problems accessing support through the central call centre still persist. We reiterate our predecessor Committee’s recommendation that the Department should immediately take action to rectify the problems with the call centre system.
From: Work and Pensions Committee, Second Report - Disability employment gap (HC 189), paragraph 104, 30 July 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 22 November 2021 (deadline 30 September 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says it shares the Committee's aim and is progressing its reforms, but keeps its existing goal of one million more disabled people in work by 2027 rather than adopting the Committee's proposed targets.
- On targets, it says it has "goals" rather than targets, because external factors affect disability employment, and that a 1.2 million goal is "very unlikely to halve the gap".
- On workforce reporting by large employers, it points to a Cabinet Office consultation, exploring "both voluntary and mandated workplace transparency", as "the right next step".
- On Disability Confident, it will review levels 2 and 3 and "consider" how to measure the scheme's impact and success, and says the review will provide an opportunity to seek views on external assessment.
- On the Work Capability Assessment, it says detailed proposals will be set out in a White Paper in 2022 following analysis of Green Paper responses.