Find resources about changes to Access to Work and how you can share your experience with us.
Access to Work is a government scheme that can provide grants to remove barriers that Disabled people face at work.
Over the last year, there have been major changes to Access to Work. This page is to help keep you updated about the changes and showcase our ongoing campaign.
What you need to know:
- The Public Accounts Committee and National Audit Office (NAO) have launched an inquiry into the Access to Work Scheme and some of the ongoing issues that users are facing.
- The inquiry stopped accepting responses on 26 February.
- The Public Accounts Committee Hearing will take place on 12 March.
- If you would like to submit your experience to Graeae to inform our campaign, you can do that via our Google Form.
- We will leave the survey open to those who still wish to share their experiences, but did not want to be included in our response to the inquiry.
- If the Google Form is not accessible to you, please email vicky@graeae.org.
- If you’d like to submit your experience to Graeae, but a Google Form is not accessible to you, you can download a plain text copy below.
We know this is a difficult time for our community. If you are struggling with your mental health, please reach out to SHOUT or text 85258.
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On Thursday, 12 March 2026, the Public Accounts Committee will be holding a hearing with senior members of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and those who oversee the Access to Work (AtW) programme. There is a private meeting that is not available to the public at 9:30 AM. The public portion of the hearing is at 10:00 AM.
You can watch the public portion of the hearing via Parliament TV. We have been told the session will have BSL interpretation on one of the streams. We will update this page with links closer to the date.
The senior DWP/AtW Officials who will be questioned are:
- Sir Peter Schofield KCB: Permanent Secretary at Department of Work and Pensions
- Neil Couling CB CBE: Director General at DWP Services and Fraud
- Helga Swindenbank: Director of Accessibility and Disputes at Department of Work and Pensions
- Bill Thorpe: Director for Disability and Health Support at Department for Work and Pensions
We have created a visual guide of what to expect at the event, which you can download below.
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This month, the National Audit Office (NAO) published a report on the Access to Work Scheme, run by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)
The investigation was to provide transparency over the DWP’s operation of Access to Work (ATW)  and inform public debate about the future of the scheme.
The report covers:
- The purpose of the Access to Work scheme
- The take-up of the scheme
- How the DWP is managing the increased take-up of the scheme
The findings of the report highlight some of our concerns about how the DWP is operating the ATW scheme and how it needs urgent investment and reform. The findings will feed into Graeae’s submission to the Public Accounts Inquiry about our hopes for the future of the scheme.
You can read the report here.
You can download a visual guide of the report below.
When it works, Access to Work is a vital lifeline for Disabled professionals in the workplace. It levels the playing field in a way no other scheme can.
It is currently not working as it should, in part due to major changes to the scheme.
Changes and Updates to Access to Work
- The current wait time for individuals employed by a business or an organisation is 37.5 weeks, or about 9 months.
- The current wait time for freelancers or self-employed individuals is 67.5 weeks, or nearly 16 months.
- If you are currently receiving an award, you must have a OneGov account to submit your claim. This means you may need to upload additional identification documents.
- There is no longer a formal complaints email address. All complaints have to be made by telephone or by using a RELAY service to call their general contact line.
We know many members of our community are concerned about these changes and are worried about the impact on their Access to Work. At Graeae, we are also concerned and want to help support our wider community as much as possible.
What are the solutions?
We want to reiterate that we are passionate that Access to Work is a vital scheme for our community, but changes must be made to make it functional.
We believe these issues can and must be solved, so we are calling for:
- Transparent communication: Many Access to Work service users have reported having their award cut without prior notification and explanation. There must be more consultation around the nuance of Deafness, Disability, neurodivergence, Learning Disabilities, and chronic illness.
- Better investment in the scheme: There is currently a cap on the amount of funds an individual can receive, which leads to people having to turn down work and projects. These projects directly inject money into the economy and allow recipients to continue to grow their own careers.
- Wait times down to 12 weeks: The current waiting times mean people are forced to turn down work as they cannot self-fund for the access tools that are required to do their job.
- Significantly improve the experience for self-employed and freelance workers: Currently, the wait times are too long for self-employed workers, who do not have the infrastructure of an organisation or corporation to support or subsidise their access requirements.
- Accessible complaints process: Access to Work recently removed the option to complain via email. Instead, users must call in to make a complaint or use a RELAY service to call on their behalf. Phone calls are inaccessible to many people, this also means there is no paper trail when a complaint is made over the phone.