Ministers, facing potential cuts of billions of pounds from the welfare budget, have announced plans to use 1,000 work coaches to help the long-term unemployed into work.
The coaches are already employed by job centres but will be redeployed to focus on tackling economic inactivity, said the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
It said the staff would provide personalised and “intensive” support to thousands of sick and disabled people.
But the Resolution Foundation, a think tank focused on people on low incomes, said only a tiny percentage would actually find a job.
The coaches will offer tailored employment support to people on health-related benefits and help them access support with writing CVs and interview techniques, the government said.
Ministers hope moving thousands of people into jobs will help them unlock the benefits of work and cut the rapidly rising cost of health and disability benefits.
But the Resolution Foundation said only about 3% of the hundreds of thousands of people likely to lose benefit payments were likely to find a job.
In a report called Delivering the Undeliverable, the researchers argue the causes of the rising welfare costs include the country getting older and sicker and that while ministers are keen on quick financial cuts, truly effective reforms will take time to deliver.
The government described the 1,000 redeployed work coaches as a “downpayment” on plans to overhaul employment support, set to be unveiled within weeks.
The current system fails to intervene early enough to stop people becoming unemployed and misses opportunities to support their return, the DWP said.
It has become “defined by poor experiences and low trust among many people who use it”, it added.
Some 2.8 million people are economically inactive because of long-term sickness, the department said.
Last year, the government spent £65bn on sickness benefits – a 25% increase on the year before the Covid pandemic. That figure is forecast to increase to around £100bn before the next general election.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has earmarked several billion pounds in draft spending cuts to welfare and other government departments ahead of the Spring Statement.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said the “broken” welfare system Labour had inherited was “failing sick and disabled people, is bad for the taxpayer, and holding the economy back”.
“For too long, sick, and disabled people have been told they can’t work, denied support, and locked out of jobs, with all the benefits that good work brings,” she said.
“But many sick and disabled people want and can work, with the right support.”
Selected figures published from a survey for the government suggest 44% of disabled people and those with a health condition in the UK do not trust the DWP to help people reach their full career potential.
The same proportion believe DWP does not provide enough support to those out of work because of disability, ill health or a long-term health condition, according to the survey.
Some 5,002 people were polled by Ipsos in October, including 1,705 who described themselves as having a long-term health condition or disability that affected their ability to carry out day-to-day activities. The DWP said the data would soon be published in full.
