DWP refuses to release secret report into under-fire Access to Work

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has refused to release a secret internal report that is likely to expose the flaws and failings at the heart of its under-fire Access to Work disability employment scheme.

It is the department’s latest attempt to prevent the release of detailed information about the scheme and decisions that have led to significant cuts to support for many disabled people and the proportion of AtW applications rejected rising sharply.

Disabled people’s organisations have also collected evidence of systemic failings within AtW, including disabled people waiting months, or even years, for assessments, approvals, and payments.

Senior DWP civil servants told MPs in March that the department is now informing disabled people who need support through the scheme that it could take 37 weeks to make a decision on their application.

It is likely that the true scale of the crisis within AtW would be revealed by an internal audit of the scheme, which was completed in August 2024, just weeks after Labour came to power.

Its existence was revealed in a report by the National Audit Office, which was published earlier this year.

Disability News Service (DNS) submitted a freedom of information request to see the report – apparently carried out by the Government Internal Audit Agency – but DWP is refusing to release it.

In its latest attempt to hide reports that could include embarrassing information about its past and present failings, the department claims releasing the audit would likely “inhibit” the willingness of its civil servants to exchange views and “freely contribute information” about sensitive topics.

In its freedom of information response, the department says it recognises that “the publication of the information requested could provide a greater understanding of the Access to Work scheme” and that it understands the “current media interest in this policy area”.

It also says Access to Work “has not been substantially changed since its introduction in 1994” and that the government has committed to reforming the scheme.

But it says the internal audit “includes details of a sensitive nature whose publication would be likely to inhibit candour”.

And it claims there is a “strong public interest in maintaining an independent and objective Internal Audit service which supports the willingness of officials to engage and freely contribute information”.

DNS has requested an internal review of the decision not to release the internal audit, before a likely complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office.