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.

• Introducing a Right to Try Work Guarantee, giving everyone who can work the chance to do so without fear of losing their benefits.

• Investing £3.5 billion in tailored employment support for sick or disabled people.

• Increasing face-to-face assessments for health benefits.

• Tackling fraud and error in the benefits system, saving £14.6 billion over this Parliament

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said:

We want the best ideas from business, charities and disabled people themselves, to help us transform employment support and make sure no talent is left behind.

These ideas will help us support disabled people in work, helping them to thrive and fulfil their full potential, tackle the disability employment gap and help businesses drive growth across every postcode.

As part of his ambition to deliver technical solutions alongside Government action to tackle economic inactivity, the Work and Pensions Secretary chaired a tech roundtable in July where some organisations showcased their work, including:

• Koalaa, which designs and manufactures comfortable, affordable prosthetics for all ages.

• Ufi VocTech Trust, which funds platforms making vocational training and job onboarding accessible to neurodivergent people and those with learning or health conditions.

An expert panel, including Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, will help decide which bids should receive funding, making sure disabled people’s experiences shape the outcome.

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Paralympian and Member of House of Lords, said:

We know that with the right support, disabled people can and do thrive in the workplace. This is a real opportunity to back the bold, creative ideas that can make that happen, and I would urge businesses, charities and innovators across the country to come forward with their best thinking.

Helping shape this Fund matters to me because finding and keeping work matters enormously, not just for individual wellbeing and independence, but for society as a whole.

Potential bidders have been attending events across the country to hear directly from experts about the Fund, walking them through the application process and what’s needed to submit a strong bid. Members of the Fund’s Advisory Panel are also on hand throughout, offering their insight and expertise to those considering an application.

Sir Charlie Mayfield, author of the Keep Britain Working Review and Co-Chair of the Keep Britain Working programme, said:

Economic inactivity caused by health conditions costs our economy £212 billion a year.

But this is fixable. We need ambitious, creative approaches to help disabled people and those with health conditions get into and stay in work.

If you’re a business, a charity, or an innovator, this is your chance to bid for funding and test genuinely new ways of transforming employment support.

Antony Walker, Deputy CEO, techUK said:

techUK was delighted to host the Secretary of State to launch the Pathways to Work Innovation Fund.

Our members are already developing innovative technologies that are breaking down barriers, helping disabled people and those with health conditions find work, stay in work and thrive.

This £60 million investment can build on that success by speeding up the adoption of proven solutions. We look forward to working with DWP to make sure the Fund reaches the innovators, particularly the UK’s dynamic SMEs, who can make the biggest difference.

Additional information

The Pathways to Work Innovation Fund opened for bids on 28th September, with full details of how to apply available at Pathways to Work Innovation Fund: applicant bid pack - GOV.UK.

The Fund is open to public, private and voluntary sector organisations across the UK.

Companies showcased at the Fund’s launch included:

• Big Health – digital therapeutics for common mental health conditions such as insomnia, anxiety and depression

• Beam – an AI caseworker platform that has supported over 7,000 people with health conditions into work

• Cogniss – a no-code platform that makes app development highly accessible and facilitates the creation of digital health and behaviour-change apps

• Ally Labs – provides an array of services and technologies designed to support mental health and wellbeing

• Ufi VocTech Trust – funds platforms that make vocational training and job onboarding accessible to neurodivergent individuals and those with learning disabilities or health conditions

• Koalaa – designs and manufactures comfortable and affordable prosthetics for all ages

• Blum Health – UK-based healthcare innovation, designing and scaling NHS-compliant software, AI solutions and patient engagement platforms

• Radii Devices – a web-based platform supporting clinicians to provide optimal fitting prosthetics to disabled people

Full list of expert panel members:

• Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson – Paralympian and Member of the House of Lords

• Andrew Greenway – Founder, Public Digital

• Angela Matthews – Director, Business Disability Forum

• Giles Barker – Workplace Disability Lead, Channel 4

• Jon Sparkes – Chief Executive of Mencap

• Mark Esho – Entrepreneur, founder and co-owner of Easy Internet Services Ltd and Easy Internet Solutions

• Nabila Gardner – Director and Health and Wellbeing Coach of Ways of Wellbeing and member of the DWP Independent Disability Advisory Panel

• Adam Whitworth – Professor at University of Strathclyde

• Mark Hodgkinson – Chair, The Valuable 500 Foundation

Additional advisers put forward by the Northern Ireland Executive and Welsh Government are being appointed and will be confirmed shortly.