Recommendation 33

HM Government Not Addressed

Recommendation DWP must ensure that the Kickstart and Restart schemes are accessible to disabled people. We recommended that the Department should immediately improve how it collects data about claimants’ characteristics in the Universal Credit system so that it can monitor, in real-time, how well the Kickstart and Restart schemes are working for particular groups, including disabled people. We reiterate that recommendation now. Response Kickstart Scheme is open to claimants with a disability Young people with a disability or health condition on Universal Credit who wish to take up the opportunity of a Kickstart job can discuss what roles they are interested in and any reasonable adjustment they require with either a Work Coach, Youth Employability coach or Disability Employment Adviser. If adjustments are required to enable the young person to take up a Kickstart job these are to be discussed and agreed with the Kickstart employer. All young people on Kickstart are offered ongoing support on a voluntary basis with their work coach during their time in a Kickstart job. If the young person does not currently have a work coach assigned to them and they wish to find out more about Kickstart opportunities this will be arranged with their local Jobcentre. It was imperative to get Kickstart up and running quickly, in order to prevent the long term impact of unemployment on young people. As such, the ability to capture the demographic characteristics of participants was not prioritised. Disability status is recorded on the wider Universal Credit systems and will be used in the evaluation of the scheme. Restart Scheme The Restart Scheme is open to Universal Credit claimants, including disabled people, who have been unemployed for between 12 to 18 months and are expected to look for and be available for work, but have no sustained earnings. There will also be an opportunity for discretionary referrals for other Universal Credit claimants at the appropriate time based on individual claimant and Work Coach discussions. In addition, and learning from the Work Programme Impact Assessment, Work Coaches and providers will engage positively, including through a warm handover introductory conversation to make providers aware of the participants’ specific circumstances and encourage participation. The Restart Scheme will be fully accessible for all participants, including disabled people and people with health conditions. At the core of the programme is the requirement on providers to deliver a personalised service that addresses individuals’ support needs. Under the terms of the Equality Act, providers are required to enable equal access to the provision. Restart Scheme providers are also required to be Disability Confident Leaders, and therefore to be fully aware of best practice in supporting disabled people. The Department will be monitoring the characteristics of people who participate in employment programmes, including which benefit conditionality group they are from.