Wednesday 17 December
2025, 09.30am, Committee Room 15
MPs on the Work and Pensions Committee will examine the design
and implementation of the Government's flagship disability
employment support programme - Connect to Work – in a session
with organisations tasked with its delivery.
Past examples of policies to improve access and opportunities for
disabled people to work will also be appraised for their impacts
on employment rates and welfare spending with leading academic
experts in the area.
Connect to Work provides more intensive advice and assistance to
eligible people, including disabled people. It is operated by
combined and local authorities partnering with employers,
Jobcentres and other private and third-sector employment support
providers. The programme has so far been rolled out in West
London, Greater Lancashire and Kent among others. However,
criticisms of the programme include that its structure could
exclude smaller, more specialized organisations from roles in
delivery and that it is not focusing enough on job retention.
Witnesses
From 09.30am
- Professor Ben Barr, Professor of Applied Public Health,
University of Liverpool;
- Becci Newton, Director of Public Policy and Research,
Institute for Employment Studies;
- Emeritus Professor Bruce Stafford, University of Nottingham;
- Professor Adam Whitworth, PhD, Scottish Centre for Employment
Research (SCER), University of Strathclyde.
From 10.30 (approx.)
- Laura Davis, CEO, British Association of Supported
Employment;
- Richard Clifton, Chief Commercial Officer, Shaw Trust;
-
, Managing Director, Maximus
UK;
- Nicola Whiteman, Policy and Communications Manager, Papworth
Trust.
