Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 29
29
Accepted
Employment rate consistently falls short of government's long-term 80% target since 2018.
Conclusion
In its November 2024 white paper Get Britain Working, the government described its plans to reform employment support as the first steps to achieving its long-term ambition to achieve an 80% employment rate. From May 2018 to October 2024, the employment rate fluctuated between 74.3% and 76.4%.61
Government Response Summary
The government states that it has already set out a roadmap in the Get Britain Working White Paper and highlights the Pathways to Work programme and other cross-government initiatives that contribute to the 80% employment rate ambition.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
6.2 Through the Get Britain Working White Paper, the department has already set out a roadmap for how the government’s long-term ambition of achieving an 80% employment rate will be realised. Pathways to Work will contribute to this ambition by supporting disabled people and people with long-term health conditions into, or toward, employment, backed by £1 billion a year of funding by 2030 and a total of £2.2 billion over four years. 6.3 Coordinated cross-government action is key to this long-term ambition. The department’s reforms sit alongside wider government initiatives, including the launch of Skills England to create a shared national plan to boost the nation’s skills, creating more good jobs through the modern Industrial Strategy, strengthening employment rights through the Plan to Make Work Pay and creating a National Health Service fit for the future through the 10 Year Health Plan for England.