Call for bold new ideas to support disabled people and those with health conditions into work

Businesses, charities and innovators can start bidding for a share of £60 million to help unlock work for the millions of people out of work with a disability or a health condition.

The Pathways to Work Innovation Fund - first announced in July - is a ‘call to action’ for the private, voluntary and public sectors to come forward with the most ambitious, creative ideas to help disabled people and those with health conditions get into and on at work.

These ideas could include AI-powered job-matching tools, prosthetics, digital therapies for mental illness and innovative ways to support people with ill health and more. Applications will close on 26 October 2026.

Almost 800 organisations took part in a recent agenda-setting first event as part of the programme – the first in a series of events taking place across the country to drive engagement among local business leaders who will play a key role in helping support people into work and drive growth in every postcode.

The new approach comes alongside wider Government action to help the 2.8 million people out of work due to sickness into employment and fulfil their full potential, as part of reforms to the broken welfare system this government inherited, including:

Rebalancing Universal Credit to remove the perverse incentives that push people away from work.