Overview
- Late June the Department for Work and Pensions said it is rolling Support Conversations out from six pilot sites to 33 Jobcentres across Great Britain, covering up to 40,000 out-of-work claimants.
- Each Support Conversation is an hour-long, one-to-one and voluntary meeting that takes a holistic view of a claimant’s life to find help with health, debt, skills, housing, rehabilitation or employment.
- The sessions will be delivered by healthcare professionals together with Pathways to Work advisers and Disability Employment Advisers and can be held face-to-face, by phone or by video.
- The DWP published a confirmed list of 33 participating Jobcentres, including five in Scotland, and said this is a staged rollout with additional sites to follow as the programme expands.
- The expansion is part of a wider £3.5 billion government package to boost disabled employment and the DWP says it will monitor and evaluate outcomes during the rollout to see if the initiative increases access to support and moves people closer to work.