DWP Collaboration project on the Right to Try Work Committee (2025)
Miles, from Lived Insights, was invited to attend a series of committee meetings at Caxton House, London aimed at supporting the DWP in co-producing , shaping and creating future welfare support to people currently claiming health and disability support.
Lived Insights sits on the Right to try Work committee – one of five groups.
To understand this really sensitive work and its potential impact, each committee set-up is balanced and made up equally of DWP policymakers, policy writers and departmental leads – with the other half made up of people bringing their own experiences of accessing the support systems and some great organisations supporting those people accessing health and disability benefits.
Sessions one and two discussions were framed on what the ‘right to try work’ offer might look like for current health and disability claimants. Getting an open understanding on people’s fears of trying work, it’s implications – what might happen if it didn’t work out, whether people could return to existing benefits, the fear of losing out on passported benefits, such as prescription fees, travel concessions, health etc and/or possible new earnings taking people beyond existing permitted thresholds.
We had informed chats on how possibly volunteering might lead toward some form of paid work, could that be viewed as a gateway option included in the changes. We spoke at great length about work capability assessments, their significant impact on both people and their support networks.
We delved into the DWP thinking of how to create real safety net options, where people could try work, avoid assessments, have a re-assessment guarantee if they found it didn’t work out for them, so keeping previous benefits.
Another significant area centred around how best the DWP communicate these options – what proper, trusted support people could expect – who was best to deliver that, independent or not, and how people could have access to a ‘better off calculator’ to make sure they understood their financial situation, either way, before deciding to try work or not.
Discussions around training all DWP staff, and I mean from Ministerial level down, to those writing processes, those who speak to people in person, and by phone is key to ensuring the offer is transparent, understandable to everyone, and consistently applied.
In the penultimate meeting, we started to understand how policymakers could ensure the voices of people experiences remain vital, essential in development of these reforms, not to be dismissed, more embedded and continued as the DWP learn newer ways to approach reform.
We have one final gathering in early November before the Right to Try Work committees advice and learning are put to Stephen Timms, Minister of State to Social Security and Disability, to then take to Government for consideration later in the month.
We will update our news page once this committee has delivered its advice, so keep checking in with us as things develop towards better outcomes for all – that’s our wish here!
It’s been fantastic to be part of this, I’m proud that Lived Insights is the only York-based lived experience led organisation invited to contribute to these national discussions.
Our mission is to make sure people with lived experience are listened to because those who’ve lived it, know it best! – what works, what doesn’t and what needs to change.