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<\/picture><\/span>EPA<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nLabour’s shadow work and pensions secretary is set to unveil plans to encourage older workers and those with medical conditions back into work.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In a speech, Jonathan Ashworth will promise improved support for those who have recently left employment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He will also say more flexibility over fitness-to-work tests could help those on sickness benefits to find work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The government says it is increasing employment support for the over-50s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A spokesperson said ministers were also expanding the “mid-Life MOT” service offered to workers in their forties and fifties to review their skills.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In his speech, Mr Ashworth will warn of a “monumental waste of human potential,” with 2.5 million people out of work because of long-term ill-health.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In the address to the Centre for Social Justice, a think tank founded by former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, he will say that “hundreds of thousands” could be helped back into work with better support.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He will accuse the Conservatives of “writing people off” – and argue that better help for jobseekers is now “urgent”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He will pledge that if it wins power at the next election, Labour would make it easier for those on sickness benefits to restart their payments if they take a job that doesn’t work out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Currently, many such claimants have to repeat the work capability assessment they initially took to determine what benefits they are eligible for.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr Ashworth is expected to argue this acts as a disincentive to taking a job. He will say a Labour government would instead let them return to claiming benefits within a year without a re-assessment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr Ashworth will also promise local councils control over a proportion of the skills budget currently spent by central government, to help ensure job training is better tailored to local areas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He will also say his party would introduce greater flexibility to the government grants available to people with health conditions or disabilities to help them stay in work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He is expected to say this would include allowing “in-principle” decisions to applicants so that employers have more certainty about what help is available.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Responding to a preview of the speech, a spokesperson for the government said it was investing an extra \u00a322m in employment support for the over 50s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n They added that the Department for Work and Pensions was reviewing workforce participation to see what action could be taken to cut economic inactivity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Labour sets out plan to overhaul universal credit<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n Published at Tue, 10 Jan 2023 03:02:33 +0000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Labour to unveil plan to help jobseekers find work EPA By Iain Watson & Paul Seddon BBC News Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary is set to unveil plans to encourage older workers and those with medical conditions back into work. In a speech, Jonathan Ashworth will promise improved support for those who have recently… Continue reading Labour to unveil plan to help jobseekers find work<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk-politics","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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