Research highlights small jobs impact of extra DWP support, just as ministers use it to justify cuts 

New government research has highlighted the small impact on their job chances of voluntary support provided to disabled people assessed as not fit for work, days before ministers prepare to use it as an excuse to slash their benefits.

Ministers have pledged that new recipients of the health element of universal credit – who will be hit by the cuts next month – will all qualify for free, voluntary support from a Pathways to Work adviser.

But new Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) research, published yesterday (Wednesday), shows that this kind of support has only a small – although statistically significant – impact on the likelihood of disabled people assessed as having limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA) gaining paid employment.

Last year, the government redeployed 1,000 existing jobcentre staff to become Pathways to Work advisers so they could support people on universal credit who have no requirement to look for work or engage with job help because of their impairment.

It described this as “the first ever national offer to support this group”, with Pathways to Work advisers based in every jobcentre in England, Scotland and Wales by last September.

But the new research shows that “additional work coach support (AWCS)” – which is similar to the support being offered by the new Pathways to Work advisers – has had only a small impact on the number of disabled people with LCWRA who find employment.

The research shows that 11.4 per cent of voluntary AWCS participants in England, Scotland and Wales who had LCWRA and received one-to-one support from a DWP adviser were in work two years later, compared with 8.1 per cent of LCWRA claimants who did not receive this support.

Previous analysis found that, 12 months after the support began, 11 per cent of participants were in work, compared to 8.2 per cent of the comparison group.

Participants in AWCS had an average of four 30-minute monthly sessions with a DWP adviser.

DWP said that more than 65,000 disabled people found to have LCWRA have started receiving additional support from the new Pathways to Work advisers since April 2025, compared with 12,000 with LCWRA who had started receiving AWCS from a work coach between June 2022 and February 2025.

Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden said the new Pathways to Work scheme was “about people who were written off getting a real chance at secure employment”, as thousands of people “who were previously left without any support are now getting the help they need to achieve their full potential”.

From 6 April, most new recipients of the health element of universal credit will see their extra payment cut from about £430 a month to just £217.

Existing claimants already assessed as having LCWRA, and those new claimants who meet the “severe conditions criteria” or the rules for those who are terminally ill, will not be affected by the cuts.

Alongside this reduction in the health element, there will be a much smaller increase in the basic universal credit allowance, worth about £295 extra this year in cash terms for a single person aged 25 or over.

DWP calls this combination of a small increase to the basic allowance combined with a much larger cut to the health element “universal credit rebalancing”.