DWP is sending staff to visit people who claim benefits while in hospital

Job coaches could visit seriously ill mental health patients when they are in hospital to help them get back to work, the Labour Party government has said.

Job coaches could visit "seriously" ill patients on mental health wards to try and get them back into work. Job coaches could visit seriously ill mental health patients when they are in hospital to help them get back to work, the Labour Party government has said.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told the BBC trials of employment advisers giving CV and interview advice in hospitals produced "dramatic results". Ms Kendall said a wider roll out would form part of her drive to shrink the UK's annual disability and incapacity benefits bill.

"It is ridiculous to try and turn a hospital, a place of care and support into a business setting," said Mikey Erhardt, campaigner at Disability Rights UK. “I want to see those costs coming down, because I want to have people able to work, to get on in their work, which is good for them," Kendall told BBC News.

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She indicated some people will lose their benefits, saying the "benefit system can have a real impact on whether you incentivise or disincentivise work". "The results of getting people into work have been dramatic, and the evidence clearly shows that it is better for their mental health," she said.

However, disability rights campaigner Erhardt said he would like to see the evidence of the trials. "It is hugely inappropriate to be considering subjecting people who experience mental ill-health and distress to a CV check-up," he said.

Ms Kendall said she believed society had become "sicker" and that the UK was the only country with advanced economies "whose employment rate has not gone back to pre-pandemic levels". "There is clear evidence we are really struggling with health problems," Ms Kendall added.

Ms Kendall also urged employers to “think differently” about workers with mental health conditions to offer flexibility to support and retain workers with health problems. Ms Kendall also suggested the face-to-face work would remain for the people “who really need it”, but “more personalised support using AI” for others, expanding on an idea introduced by her predecessor Stride.