Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to help older women and men into work.

Justin Tomlinson

DWP recognises and welcomes the valuable knowledge and skills that older workers bring to the work place. There are now more older people in employment than ever before, 9.6 million 50+ workers in the UK – an increase of over a million (1.3 million) over the last 5 years.

As well as access to the full Jobcentre Plus offer of personalised support, we introduced Older Claimant Champions in Jobcentre Plus, and have run two yearlong trials from April 2015 to test how we support older people where age is a barrier to them finding work. The trials are being evaluated and initial results will be available in autumn 2016.

The Government intends to publish a new, employer-led national strategy later this year, setting out the future direction of the Fuller Working Lives agenda.