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Abena Welcomes £47.1m Funding Boost to Help Residents in Greenwich and Bexley Overcome Barriers to Work

Thousands of residents across Greenwich and Bexley — including many in Erith and Thamesmead — will benefit from new Government funding to help disabled people and those with long-term health conditions into work.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced a £338 million investment into the new Connect to Work programme, which will provide tailored employment support for more than 85,000 people in 15 areas across England.

As part of this, up to £47.1 million has been allocated to the Local London Sub-Regional partnership, supporting 12,350 people locally, including in Greenwich and Bexley. The scheme will offer personalised coaching, job-matching services, and ongoing support to help people overcome barriers and secure sustainable jobs.

Abena Oppong-Asare, MP for Erith and Thamesmead said:

“This investment will make a real difference to people here in Erith and Thamesmead.

“Everyone deserves the chance to fulfil their potential, and this scheme will provide personalised support for those who may have faced long-term barriers to work.

“I’m delighted to see new opportunities being opened up across both Greenwich and Bexley, helping more people into secure and fulfilling work.”

Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall, said:

“For too long, millions of people have been denied the support they need to get back to health and back to work.

“It’s bad for their living standards, it’s bad for their families, and it’s bad for the economy.

“That’s why we’re taking decisive action by investing millions of pounds so sick or disabled people can overcome the barriers they face and move out of poverty and into good, secure jobs as part of our Plan for Change.

With 2.8 million people out of work due to ill-health, this investment is a key step in the Government’s wider Plan for Change – helping sick and disabled people overcome barriers, move out of poverty, and secure good, stable jobs.

For more information, read the DWP Government announcement here.

Abena in Erith

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Home Instead visit

Home Instead in Erith provide vital care to ageing residents to enable them to live happily, comfortably & independently at home. The office opened in the latter part of 2019, and most of their journey was heavily impacted by the Covid. However, they came through it and are now supporting clients across Erith and Thamesmead.

Last week I met with them to discuss their experience through the pandemic, how they are being affected by the recruitment crisis & how increasing costs, from living to fuel, are putting people off the care profession.

 
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Roundtable with Minister and local disabled advocacy groups

This week I brought together a group of local disability advocacy and support groups to raise concerns about the operation of the benefits system on people with disabilities with Justin Tomlinson, the Minister for Disabled People, Work and Health.

Earlier this year I met with the Minister to raise concerns about how the pandemic had affected people with disabilities and the failure of the DWP to meet the needs of disabled people.

The Minister agreed to take part in a roundtable with local organisations working on the frontline with disabled people.

I have raised a number of these issues in Parliament during a recent debate on the impact of the pandemic on people with disabilities. In that debate I called for the Government to bring forward a national strategy for disabled people as soon as possible.

Key issues raised at the roundtable included a failure to provide accessible information to disabled people, the problems people with learning difficulties face accessing PIP, the impact of benefit assessments on claimants mental health, and the lack of appropriate training for assessors.

Participants also raised problems with disabled people accessing Universal Credit and the problems some people face due to the increasingly online-only system.

The roundtable discussion will feed into the Green Paper on health and disability which is due to be published shortly.

I urge local organisations and individuals to contribute to the consultation process once it is open.

I am determined that nobody is left behind in Erith and Thamesmead, and this means that disabled people need better treatment from the Government.

I hope the Government will listen to the concerns and bring forward concrete proposals to improve the benefits system for disabled people.

Kara Lee from Bexley Mencap said: “It was fantastic to be involved in such an important conversation to share the experiences and views of people with learning disabilities about the benefit system and how it could be improved.  Thank you for organising the meeting to give small organisations, and more importantly the people they represent, a voice about such an important topic.”

Alan Kerr from Metro GAD said: “I really valued the opportunity to speak directly with the Minister of Disabled People to express our very real concerns about the benefits system and the impact it has on their lives.”

Press coverage of the event: https://london-post.co.uk/abena-oppong-asare-mp-holds-roundtable-with-government-minister-and-local-advocacy-groups-to-discuss-concerns-about-the-treatment-of-disabled-people/

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