Disabled people have raised concerns about problems with the Access to Work (AtW) scheme. Many employed disabled people rely on this to be able to take up and remain in a job.
AtW is intended to help people overcome work-related barriers resulting from their disability. It may assist with matters that fall outside the reasonable adjustments that employers must make to support a disabled person to do their job.
The help provided can include, for example, a reader or communicator for somebody with a visual impairment or hearing loss, specialist equipment such as screen reader, a support worker or taxi fares if a disabled person cannot use public transport to get to work.
That is certainly the theory. However, many problems exist, which have been long and widely reported in the media.
Delays and rejections
These include delays in assessment and decision-making for new and renewal applications. This has led to disabled people having to wait a long time for their ‘grant’.
There have been many stories from those affected. Some news reports suggested that, during 2025, there were increases in the number of applications being rejected and AtW recipients seeing cuts to their existing payments.
In a parliamentary question last year, Liberal Democrat MP Steve Darling asked the government if new guidance had been issued to Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) officials to reduce levels of support.
Sir Stephen Timms, the secretary of state for work and pensions, replied: “In the past, some restrictions in the guidance have not always been implemented.
“The guidance is now being more consistently applied… work has been under way to improve scheme decision-making by applying the guidance with greater consistency, to provide a fairer process.
“This may mean that some awards change at the point of renewal, but there has been no change in scheme policy, or instruction to reduce support levels.”
The National Audit Office recently published a report about the AtW scheme. Primary among its finding was demand.
Between 2018‑19 and 2024‑25, applications to AtW more than doubled from 76,100 to 157,000. The total number of people who received payments increased over the same period by 97% from 37,700 to 74,200. Just over half of recipients in 2024-25 were recorded as having a mental health condition or a learning disability.
Despite the DWP employing significantly more staff and improving productivity, the National Audit Office found the delays in processing applications had created difficulties for individuals and employers including less job security as well as cashflow pressures for businesses, particularly small enterprises.
The guidance is being applied more consistently. This may mean some awards change but there has been no instruction to reduce support levels
Inefficiency admitted
It said that “systems remain inefficient, and the backlog [of applications] is not expected to fall significantly without policy change, additional budget or productivity improvements”.
The consultation on the 2025 green paper, Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to get Britain Working, included the theme of making work accessible.
This looked at improving the AtW scheme as part of an initiative to improve employment prospects (including for disabled people) in the UK. It said it particularly encouraged responses from disabled people and those with health conditions, carers and their representative organisations.
The consultation posed questions about AtW. These concerned: its future delivery model; what parts of the scheme should be funded by the government to maximise the impact and reach of a future AtW scheme; and what the future role and design of the scheme should be.
Any proposals on the changes to or development of the scheme are yet to be announced.
