Welfare reform and employment support

The assessments of the policy area on this page were based on a snapshot of progress on 20 July 2026 and do not reflect more recent announcements.

Lead departments 

• Department for Work and Pensions 
• Department of Health and Social Care  

Why it matters to health 

Welfare and employment support both affect health through their influence on income, financial security and participation in work and society. The adequacy of benefits shapes living standards, while conditionality and sanctions can also affect people’s mental health and wellbeing. Employment support is often designed with a focus on people with health conditions or disabilities and aims to help people enter or (less frequently) remain in work.  

Welfare and employment support are closely linked, as benefit entitlement can determine access to employment support and benefit recipients can also be required to take part in work-related activity or employment support.  

Labour’s commitments 

Labour’s 2024 manifesto outlined ambitions to: 

• reform employment support, including linking it more closely to health and skills 
• review Universal Credit to ‘make work pay and tackle poverty’  
• improve support for disabled people to enable them to move into work.  

Status of this policy area 

The government has proposed significant reforms to welfare and employment support policy, with the aim of increasing employment participation. Before the last General Election, the previous government had begun introducing health and employment support reforms, but many had not been implemented by the time the new government took office. An independent review, led by Alan Milburn, was launched at the end of 2025 to investigate the rising numbers of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), driven in large part by ill health. The Timms review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is considering the role and purpose of PIP; eligibility, fairness and equity in awards; the claim experience; and the changing external context. 

• Employment support: The 2024 Get Britain Working white paper set out reforms to better integrate employment, health and skills support. Key measures have included a new Jobs and Careers Service, new Jobs and Careers Servicelocal Get Britain Working plans and a £125m pilot to get people back to health and work.  
• Disability and health support: The Connect to Work programme has been introduced. This is a voluntary employment programme for people with disabilities, health conditions or complex barriers to work.  
• Benefit rates: As part of a ‘rebalancing’, Universal Credit standard allowance rates are being increased above inflation for 4 years, while the health element is being reduced by about half for new claimants. The state pension ‘triple lock’ has been maintained. Additionally, eligibility for Winter Fuel Payments has been restricted, although by less than initially proposed.  
• Milburn Review: The interim report from the Milburn review of young people and work set out clearly how poor health combines with other factors to leave young people out of work and education. 
• Welfare reform: The Pathways to Work initiative proposed benefit reforms, including a new ‘right to try’ work, a contributory unemployment benefit and changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP). These were later withdrawn. The interim report of the Timms review of PIP highlighted issues identified including the stressful experience of the claim process. The government continues to consider reform of a new ‘unemployment insurance’ after consultation closed in June 2025.