As the government pushes to get more disabled claimants in to work, a report by the National Association of Welfare Rights Workers (NAWRA) demonstrates how Access to Work (AtW) is failing disabled claimants through a combination of delays, unnecessary bureaucracy and the lack of any appeal process.
The AtW scheme is administered by the DWP. It can provide money to pay for work-related help such as:
- A support worker
- Specialist equipment
- Assistive software
- Travel to work costs
For many disabled people, AtW can make the difference between being able to get, or keep, a job or being unable to work.
Yet the waiting time for getting or renewing an award has grown to such an extent that people’s livelihoods are put under threat and their health suffers.
NAWRA have produced a collection of case studies for the Work and Pensions committee inquiry into Employment Support for Disabled People, setting out how AtW is failing to offer adequate support.
N has Parkinson’s and applied for help from AtW in January 2025. In July she rang AtW for an update, only to be told they were still working through last November’s applications. N now faces losing her job as, without support, she can only work from home and her employer needs her in the workplace.
M applied to AtW in June 2025 for help travelling from home to the railway station to get to work, after injuring her back. Her employer funded an Uber for a month but AtW have now told M she is likely to have to wait 30 weeks for a decision. M may have to take long-term sick leave as a result.
A is an artist with dyslexia, COPD and compression of the spine and needs help including with organizing, planning and reading. When she went through the AtW renewal process there was a delay of 12 weeks after the end of her award, before a new award was made. During this time A paid her support worker out of her own money, only to discover that her new award had been cut by 70%, including all the support worker’s wages. There is no appeals process and A ended up in hospital due to the stress of the experience.
There are many more case studies in the NAWRA report and the organisation is recommending, amongst other things that the government:
- Ensures that claims are dealt with up front so that neither employees nor employers are put at a financial disadvantage
- Sets up a support service to assist applicants to manage the process
- Sets up strict timescales within which applications are dealt
- Properly invests in AtW which will result in more disabled people being in employment - the government’s clearly stated aim - and boosting the economy
- Sets up an independent appeal process again with strict timescales so problems are resolved timeously
Unfortunately, it is far more likely that support from AtW will be made much less generous and employers will be expected to make up the shortfall, with predictable results for the employment rates of disabled people.
