SCER academic joins Government expert group

Professor Adam Whitworth, from the Scottish Centre for Employment Research (SCER) in the Department of Work, Employment and Organisation, has been invited to join the Department for Work and Pension’s (DWP’s) national Pathways to Work Innovation Fund Expert Group. The group will support and oversee the roll-out of the new £60 million work and health policy and delivery innovation fund, including reviewing bids for funding.

The Government’s Pathways to Work Innovation Fund is a ‘call to action’ for the private, voluntary and public sectors to come forward with the most ambitious, creative ideas to help disabled people and those with health conditions get into and on at work.

The Fund opens for bids this month, with organisations across the UK invited to compete for funding to test genuinely new approaches to employment support.

With 2.8 million people currently out of work due to ill-health, and the Keep Britain Working review estimating economic inactivity caused by health conditions costs the UK economy £212 billion a year, the Government is looking to work alongside business, charities, tech innovators and disabled people themselves to tackle the issue and improve employment support.

The Fund forms part of the Government’s commitment to break down barriers to opportunity for disabled people backed by £3.5 billion in tailored employment support. This includes intensive, one-to-one job help from specialist advisers in their own communities, meeting people where they are, alongside a joined-up work and health offer.

An expert panel – including Paralympian Tanni, Baroness Grey-Thompson - will help shape the fund’s design and advise on which bids should be funded, ensuring the voices and experience of disabled people are placed at the very heart of the process.