mainly reposted from Indepemdent Living
Access to Work is going nowhere
The Access to Wok scheme was set up to fund support for disabled individuals in the workplace, enabling them to find and maintain employment. For every £1 spent the government get £1.83 back from this funding.
However, it is now in a precarious situation, with more than six months of delays on new applications and renewals, inconsistent decisions that go against the scheme’s own guidelines, and 40-60% award cuts.
A reported 62,000 Access to Work applications are waiting to be processed and 33,000 people are stuck with unpaid claims as of February 2025.
Access to Work Collective
A grass roots group of 3000 disabled people and allies, called the Access To Work Collective, has launched a campaign, Access to Nowhere, highlighting the serious problems with the scheme, and asking for it to be overhauled.
For many employed and self-employed people, their ability to work is dependent on receiving the necessary support. If it is delayed or taken away altogether, they risk losing their jobs or businesses.
Joined-up thinking required
There has been a big government push towards getting more disabled people into work. Pathways to Work contains proposals intended to reduce barriers to employment, yet the one scheme that provides tangible support to make employment and self-employment possible is being left to slide into crisis.
Scope estimates that there are one million disabled people currently not employed who would like to have a job. Access to Work could and should be the mechanism to connect those candidates with the job market and address employers’ concerns about incurring additional costs.
Concrete example of Access to Work dysfunction
Self-employed blogger and travel writer Carrie-Ann Lightley is regularly thwarted by Access to Work’s delays and incompetence. She says:
I have a grant to help with a support worker for travel. As I’m a freelancer and my work is agile, some weeks I travel a lot, some weeks not at all. This means there is a note on my AtW file to say my hours should be covered on a monthly maximum, not a weekly maximum. And still, every single claim is underpaid because they say I’ve gone over my max weekly hours. So each time, I have to call them spending an hour or more on hold. We have a 2 minute conversation, they approve the full claim and send me the difference. Every single time. How is this saving anyone money?!
Graeae Theatre Company has also highlighted the horrendous problems caused to both employees and employers by Access to Work
Support the Access to Nowhere campaign
The Access to Work Collective is calling for people to support the campaign. Ways you can do this
1. Write to your MP
2.Sign the open letter https://docs.google.com/forms/u/0/d/e/1FAIpQLSeoc_LUE23WkAV_qnpYqW3RZvXhRviYEQWm1FQOGuJfGW-0rw/formResponse1Write to your MP
- Share on social media – hashtag#AccessToNowhere hashtag#AccessToWorkCollective hashtag#AccessToWork
