Teresa Pearce – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Teresa Pearce on 2014-03-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons his Department paid the majority of the support package for former Remploy workers to Job Centre Plus for a rapid response team; what that rapid response did to assist former Remploy employees; and what the outcome of that assistance was.

Mike Penning

The Rapid Response Service (RRS) was made available to all former affected Remploy employees and was funded separately to the £8 million People Help and Support Package (PHSP), which provides help all disabled former Remploy workers made redundant as a result of factory closures.

RRS support was made available to all affected Remploy employees at the earliest opportunity following the announcement of a Remploy factory closure. Working with Remploy a range of support was agreed taking into account local circumstances and involved partner organisations where appropriate, for example the National Careers Service.

Typically, RRS included on-site support and advice that helped with; providing information about being made redundant, identifying transferable skills, job options and training needs, learning new skills appropriate to the local labour market, job search skills and finding a new job, overcoming barriers to work and settling into a new job.

Together, with the PHSP, as at 21 March this support has helped 716 former Remploy workers who are now in work.