Access to Work in crisis – disabled workers pushed out of jobs

The government’s flagship employment support scheme for disabled people is in “deep crisis”. Delays, cuts and outdated systems are putting thousands of jobs at risk. This is according to new evidence the Disability Poverty Campaign Group has submitted to the Public Accounts Committee’s inquiry into Access to Work.

The Disability Poverty Campaign Group is a coalition led by disabled people’s organisations and allies from anti-poverty, disability, carers and research organisations. Disability Rights UK and Inclusion London co-chair the group.

In February the National Audit Office published its own report looking at challenges in the operation of Access to Work. Following on from the National Audit Office’s findings, the Public Accounts Committee wanted to take evidence from senior Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) officials and disability organisations on how and if the DWP is addressing challenges within the scheme. Topics included what impact backlogs have had on claimants and employers, and how to improve the scheme.

The Disability Poverty Campaign Group sent a 3,000-word submission to the Public Accounts Committee. It said Access to Work, once regarded as a cornerstone of disability employment support, is now failing on multiple fronts.

This is despite Access to Work being vital to helping disabled people stay in work. The scheme now suffers from extreme waiting times, inconsistent decisions, inaccessible processes and steep reductions in support.

The submission used evidence and data collected from the Disability Poverty Campaign Group’s own Access to Work survey, Access Action on Disability, The Access to Work Collective, Decode collaboration, RNIB and policy discussions undertaken with officials and Ministers in DWP.

Access to Work gutted by cuts

The Disability Poverty Campaign Group submission showed the evidence of widespread cuts to Access to Work packages is now overwhelming:

• In the Disability Poverty Campaign Group’s 2025 survey, half of recipients said their support was insufficient.
• One person saw their annual allowance cut from 52 hours of support to just 5.
• Decode, a network supporting disabled people in the arts, reports that 89.5% of reassessment cases they supported in 2024–25 resulted in lower awards. There was an average reduction of 53%.
• Action on Disability found support worker hours for their clients dropped 82% between 2022 and 2025. And job retention fell from 88% to 43%, with employers directly linking job losses to Access to Work cuts.

Amongst other concerns reported in the submission was that the processes for applying for, administering, and appealing Access to Work awards are becoming inaccessible. New rules have been introduced which prevent digital sharing of applications and documents and instead require communication by post.

There have also been instances of many Deaf users of Access to Work having advisers repeatedly telephone them. That’s despite knowing that they are Deaf and cannot use the telephone.

The Disability Poverty Campaign Group is pushing for more funding for Access to Work. It showed that Access to Work delivered £1.14 directly back to the Treasury for every pound it cost. This confirms that it is cost‑effective to the government.

Disabled people’s recommendations

The Disability Poverty Campaign Group submission sums up widespread system failures and problems arising from the design or processes of Access to Work, and value for money in the scheme.

It also recommends policy solutions that, if implemented, would go toward securing the future of the Access to Work scheme. They would make it more inclusive, sustainable and fit for the future.

Disability Poverty Campaign Group recommendations were:

• Immediately increase funding to match rising demand.
• Invest in modernising Access to Work, making all processes fully accessible and inclusive for all applications and renewals.
• Ensure any future changes to the scheme are co-designed with disabled people’s organisations, disabled people and disabled freelancers and business owners.
• Move Access to Work from Departmental Expenditure Limits (limits set by the treasury to manage public spending in the UK) to Annually Managed Expenditure funding based on need, to manage growing caseloads.
• Create a transferable Access to Work award that moves with the individual from an existing job to a new job. This would enable people to start a new job immediately without having to reapply from scratch.

Now that the Disability Poverty Campaign Group along with other Access to Work groups and disabled people’s organisations have submitted evidence, the Public Accounts Committee will follow a well‑established parliamentary oversight process.

It will take oral evidence from senior officials and relevant witnesses. Then it will produce a formal report, to be laid before parliament and published online. The government must issue a Treasury Minute response, normally within two months, setting out the actions the DWP will take.

Dan White, co-chair of the Disability Poverty Campaign Group, said:

When Access to Work fails, disabled people lose their jobs, employers lose valued staff, and the economy loses talent it cannot afford to waste.

The evidence we have submitted—drawn from many disabled workers and employers across the UK—shows a system at breaking point. Yet it also shows the solution. Access to Work is not only life‑changing but cost‑effective, returning more to the Treasury than it costs to run. With the right investment, modernisation and co‑production with disabled people, the scheme can once again become the cornerstone of disability employment support that it was supposed to be.

We urge the Public Accounts Committee to use its powers to help secure the future of a scheme that is vital to the employment rights of disabled people who can and wish to participate fully in working life. The recommendations we set out are practical, necessary, and achievable. What is needed now is the political will to act.

Featured image via the Canary