ABSTRACT
Since 1997 the UK Government has helped deliver a strong and stable economy and created the Department for Work and Pensions, Jobcentre Plus, the New Deals and given better in-work support through tax credits. People coming onto incapacity benefits do report a wide range of obstacles to work that are unrelated to health. These include low confidence about finding a job, poor skills, little or no financial incentive to get a job, employer discrimination and a belief that they cannot work with their health condition. Ensuring new incapacity benefits claimants maintain contact with skilled personal advisers throughout the crucial early stages of a claim through a series of mandatory work-focused interviews. People claiming incapacity benefits can already access a range of disability and mainstream employment programmes such as the New Deal for Disabled People, Work-Based Learning for Adults and basic skills provision.
