15 January 2024 , 14:11
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced that from April, disabled people who need help to get into or stay in work will be able to fully apply for grants online.
These Access to Work grants are designed to provide practical support, such as special equipment, travel costs, or a sign language interpreter. However, disability charities have criticised the current system for being "dogged with delays", causing disabled people to wait a long time for an award and preventing them from working. While some parts of the system are digitalised, others still require paperwork.
Work and pensions minister Mims Davies said her department "anticipate by April 2024 that a fully digital service will be available, with applicants able to claim for all types of grants". Ryan Kennedy, adjustments and accessibility lead at disability equality charity Scope, said the fully digital Access to Work system could "easily be adapted for both employers and Access to Work to take a more active role in the online claims process", easing the burden on the applicant.
He added: "Access to Work, while good in principle, is beset by problems. The system is dogged with delays. Disabled people are waiting a long time for assessments and for their applications to be awarded, which results in delays in them ordering equipment.
"The Government also needs to address low awareness of the scheme by employers and disabled people. Disabled people are pushing hard to get into work, and this scheme should be there to support them fully and efficiently when they get into employment."
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Jackie O'Sullivan, acting CEO of Mencap, welcomed the commitment from ministers, saying the current system had been "an administrative burden on employers and disabled people".
She said: "No person with a learning disability should risk falling out of employment or a training programme because their support cannot be put in place in time or because the paper-based application process is too complicated."
Sir Stephen Timms, Labour chairman of the Commons' Work and Pensions Committee, has written to the Government asking when the digital system will be ready. Ministers told his committee in 2021 they were "spending £5 million on Access to Work to commence delivery of a fully digital customer service".
He's also asked if having an online system for Access to Work applications has made waiting times for decisions shorter. Ms Davies said her department was still looking at the data, but it's hoped that "envisioned that processing times may decrease".
The committee wants more people to know about the Access to Work scheme, which helps disabled folks get and keep jobs. A Unison survey showed that only a few disabled workers knew about this help, especially for working from home.
Sir Stephen commented: "I hope that the new online service will mark the start of a substantial improvement, reducing the barriers which disabled people too often encounter in obtaining and staying in work. As well as modernisation, the select committee has called for a marketing push to make Access to Work much better known."
The Government is trying to help more disabled people get jobs. The big boss of Work and Pensions, Mel Stride, said in September they're going to give more support to disabled people so they can work from home and not have to rely on sickness benefits.
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