The Pathways to Work programme is part of a £3.5bn employment support package to give disabled people personalised helped to move into good work and improve their living standards.

Work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, said: ‘This isn't just about statistics - it's about people who were written off getting a real chance at secure employment and that's exactly what this Government's welfare agenda is built on.'

One thousand Pathways to Work Advisers based in job centre offer one-to-one support to people with Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA) status - those who receive benefits without any requirement to look for work - connecting them to skills training such as IT courses and HGV qualifications to open doors to better-paid employment.

Just 12,000 LCWRA people received work coach support between June 2022 and February 2025.

Around 2.7m people who claim Universal Credit were LCWRA, as of December 2025, with 173,276 of these between 18 and 24 years old.

Almost two-thirds (61%) of people claiming Universal Credit were recorded as having mental and behavioural disorders.

Changes to Universal Credit came into force on 6 April including a lower Universal Credit health element rate of £217.26 per month for new claimants, compared to the higher rate of £429.80.

Around 550,00 children are forecast to be lifted out of poverty following the scrapping of the two-child limit on Universal Credit this month.