Access to Work delays shoot up, just as government is trying to address disability employment  

New figures show that disabled people are waiting nearly 100 days for their Access to Work claims to be “reconsidered” by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), just as the government has released its plans to increase disability employment.

The figures, secured by a disabled campaigner, also show that average waiting-times for new Access to Work applications to be processed have shot up from 46 days to 85 days* in just 12 months.

And they show that waiting-times have continued to rise under the new Labour government.

On 28 February, according to the DWP figures, there were 62,000 Access to Work applications still waiting to be processed.

The statistics, which have not been published by DWP, were obtained by Catherine Eadie, who runs social enterprise MHScot Workplace Wellbeing in Edinburgh.

The figures show that, in July 2024, when the new government was elected, the average processing time for new Access to Work (AtW) applications was 55.3 days, but by the end of February this year it had risen to 84.6 days.

And the waiting-times for reconsideration requests for AtW claims had risen from 64.5 days to 96.9 days.

Eadie asked for the figures after her long-standing package of support was suddenly slashed from 24 hours a week to just seven.

She said: “The way my reconsideration was handled was riddled with inaccuracies, and the lack of care or attention given to the impact on my ability to work was deeply concerning.”

She asked DWP in December to reconsider its decision, but she is still waiting for a response, more than three months later.

When she warned DWP that she was on the verge of having to give her support worker a month’s notice, she was told: “Your reconsideration request is currently with our reconsideration team and will be considered in date order.

“We are unable to give an exact timeframe as to when the reconsideration request will be completed.”

Eadie told Disability News Service: “There’s no clear communication from DWP on timeframes, and the stress of not knowing how long this will drag on has had a serious impact on my health, my POTS symptoms have intensified, and fatigue is worse.

“While tech can help bridge some of the gaps, it can’t counteract the constant adrenaline and uncertainty.”

Eadie said she had also been hospitalised multiple times following suicide attempts, directly linked to the “barbaric attitudes, dehumanising practices, and relentless pressure” that characterise DWP’s approach to its disability benefits system.

But she said Access to Work had always been “essential” in helping her stay in work, even though it is not the first time she has experienced “serious issues” with the way it has operated since first receiving support in 2008.

The government’s controversial and unpopular Pathways to Work green paper is consulting on the future of Access to Work, although it is not yet clear how each of three “potential future approaches” would impact disabled people.

The green paper suggests – although again it is not at all clear – that ministers want to cut future spending on Access to Work, which is set to increase from £142 million in 2019-20 to £385 million in 2025-26.

Sir Stephen Timms, the minister for social security and disability, said in a written answer this week that ministers were “keen to ensure that… we can demonstrate the value for money delivered through a new model as well as the positive impact it is having”.

Meanwhile, another disabled entrepreneur, Chris Catt, has launched a parliamentary petition calling on the government to take action to cut AtW waiting-times.

Catt, who runs the Enabled Entrepreneur consultancy, said some disabled people were waiting more than 180 days for DWP to contact them to discuss the support they needed through the scheme.

He wants the government to treat the issue “as seriously as NHS waiting lists”.

And ITV News Meridian has reported that a supported employment charity in Hampshire that employs 58 disabled people is fighting to stay afloat because it is owed about £150,000 in AtW payments by DWP.

*The DWP response did not state whether the figures relate to calendar or working days, but they are likely to refer to working days

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