Politics · United Kingdom · 4 hrs ago
Connect to Work recruits 13,900 in first year, missing reduced target
The UK’s Connect to Work scheme recruited 13,900 people in its first year, official figures show.
The £1.2 billion programme is designed to help people with long-term health conditions return to work.
Its original target was 33,623 recruits, but ministers lowered it to 17,954 shortly before the first year ended.
The scheme missed even that reduced target by more than 4,000 people.
The shortfall raises doubts about whether it can support 300,000 people with long-term health conditions into work by the end of the decade.
The government says participation is now growing, with 15,000 people starting between March and June this year.
The Department for Work and Pensions expects numbers to rise further over the next few years.
Connect to Work recruited 13,900 people in its first year, below both its original target and a later reduced target, according to official figures reported by the Daily Mail.
The scheme’s original first-year goal was 33,623 recruits, later reduced to 17,954.
The Department for Work and Pensions said 25,000 participants started on the programme from April last year to June this year, including 15,000 from March to June.
The £1.2 billion scheme is intended to help people with long-term health conditions get back to work.
A Centre for Government Reform representative and a shadow welfare secretary criticised the shortfall and the change to the target.
- Who
- The Department for Work and Pensions runs Connect to Work. The scheme is intended to help people with long-term health conditions.
- What
- It recruited 13,900 people in its first year, missing its original and reduced targets.
- When
- The scheme launched in November 2024. The first-year figures were reported on 27 October 2026.
- Where
- The scheme is part of the UK government’s Get Britain Working agenda.
- Why
- It aims to help people with long-term health conditions get back to work.
Department for Work and Pensions
Critics
Performance
Department for Work and Pensions
The department said 25,000 participants started on the programme from April last year to June this year and expects the numbers to grow significantly.
Critics
A Centre for Government Reform representative said the scheme fell well short of target, while the shadow welfare secretary said it had run aground.
Target change
Department for Work and Pensions
Ministers cited “optimism bias” in the original first-year target.
Critics
Critics said changing the target amounted to moving the goalposts.
Connect to Work launched as part of the Labour government’s Get Britain Working agenda.
Ministers reduced the first-year target, citing “optimism bias” in the original aim.
The scheme recruited 13,900 people, below the original target of 33,623 and the reduced target of 17,954.
The Daily Mail reported the recruitment figures and criticism of the scheme.
- First-year recruits
- 13,900
- Original first-year target
- 33,623
- Reduced first-year target
- 17,954
- Scheme cost
- £1.2 billion
- Programme starts
- 25,000 from April last year to June this year, according to the Department for Work and Pensions
What people are saying
Connect to Work is the Government's flagship answer to Britain's economic inactivity crisis and it is falling well short of target.
Many sick and disabled people want to work, but Labour's flagship employment scheme has run aground.
We expect these numbers to grow significantly throughout the next few years.
overcome the barriers