Self-employed disabled people face waiting up to 19 months for Access to Work decisions, evidence shows

Self-employed disabled people who seek support through the government’s Access to Work scheme are facing delays of up to 19 months for a decision on their claim, months longer than MPs were told in a Commons meeting earlier this month.

Senior Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) civil servants told MPs on 12 March that the department was now informing disabled people who need support through the Access to Work (AtW) scheme that it could take 37 weeks to make a decision on their application.

But self-employed applicants are actually being told to expect a wait of at least 18 months, or about 80 weeks.

DNS has seen evidence that several self-employed disabled people have already waited more than 17 months for their applications to be dealt with.

And DWP is currently dealing with applications from self-employed claimants that were submitted in August 2024, 19 months ago.

Self-employed disabled people who are existing AtW recipients but whose circumstances have changed and are seeking more support appear to be waiting even longer.

Catherine Hale, a self-employed disability researcher and consultant, applied for support in October 2024 and is still waiting for a decision on her application – or even a date for an assessment – even though she was told at the time to expect a decision in eight or nine months.

She has written to her MP twice, but the delay on her new claim “just keeps increasing”.

She told Disability News Service (DNS) that the delays were “unacceptable and a betrayal of the government’s ambitions to improve disabled people’s employment chances”.

Through her consultancy Disability Insight, Hale works to ensure disabled people’s lived experience is embedded in research and policy, particularly in the fields of disability employment and health.

She said: “It seems that in order to bring wait times down they are pushing self-employed applications to the back of the queue.

“I have faced barriers to working in academia and in mainstream employment.

“I’m self-employed because this is the only way I can design the flexibility I need to manage a fluctuating energy-limiting condition by working from home, not because I’m less committed or less capable in my role.”

She mostly needs to travel by taxi because of her impairment but keeps having to turn down in-person speaking engagements and parliamentary events because she cannot travel by public transport and has no AtW funding for taxis.

She said: “Recently I was invited to speak about disability and flexible working at Naidex alongside a leading academic but I didn’t have the support I needed so I had to turn it down.”

She also needs to work in a reclined position, but without an adapted workstation she has to prop herself up in bed and as a result is now developing back pain from poor posture.

She said: “I’ve had to attend project team meetings without a support worker and when my condition flared up my partner had to take time off work to provide care.

“Disabled people like me are self-employed because we are excluded from the world of work by the rigid way that jobs are designed.

“To be left at the back of the queue for support adds insult to injury, like we are the least deserving of support.”

This lack of support from AtW means she is also excluded from opportunities to push for positive change.

She said: “My work directly aims to influence and inform policies and services and improve employer practices.

“But half the time I can’t be in the room with decision-makers and leaders, where the influence is needed. I can’t be at the table to share my evidence.

“How can I push for a more inclusive world of work when my voice is so marginalised by lack of support?”

Another self-employed claimant, David*, from Yorkshire, has been told to expect a wait of 18 months for his AtW claim.

He asked AtW in October 2025 for extra support because he needs more than the three hours he currently receives for his work as a researcher and “lived experience” adviser.

David, who is neurodivergent and has had a stroke, said he believes he will need to stop working if the extra support is not approved within the next few months.

He said: “Surely they want me to work, but they are putting in more barriers.

“Rachel Reeves said she wants to help disabled people stay in work, but it doesn’t feel like that.”

DNS has seen a letter written to David’s MP from DWP in January which admits that “currently, self-employed customers are experiencing longer delays than employed applicants” and that AtW is “currently working on applications we received on or before 26 July 2024”.

Julia Modern, co-chair of the Disability Poverty Campaign Group, which is convened by Inclusion London and Disability Rights UK, said: “Many disabled people find self-employment more accessible than the standard jobs market.

“However, unacceptable delays for assessments for the Access to Work scheme are currently putting the viability of self-employment for disabled people at risk.

“Disabled freelancers are particularly affected, as they often lose contracts and income while waiting for an assessment.

“We are disappointed to see underinvestment causing a programme that has historically been vital to disabled people’s ability to work instead hold back disabled people’s careers and put our financial security at risk.”

Disabled consultant, broadcaster and campaigner Shani Dhanda, co-founder of the Access to Work Collective, said she was not surprised by the delays faced by self-employed AtW applicants.

She said: “For self-employed disabled people, these delays are catastrophic.

“There is no employer to fall back on, no sick pay, no buffer.

“People are losing income, losing clients, and being pushed out of work entirely while waiting for support that is supposed to enable them to work.”

She added: “Delays in Access to Work are systemic and out of control.

“An overwhelming 97.8 per cent of our members report experiencing delays, with nearly two-thirds waiting more than six months and one in five waiting over a year.”

DWP claimed this week that there were no separate systems for employed and self-employed applicants.

A DWP spokesperson told DNS: “Access to Work supports thousands of sick or disabled people to start or stay in work, and support provided by the scheme has nearly doubled in five years.

“Access to Work prioritises both employed, and self-employed, applicants who are due to start work within the next four weeks or renewing existing grants, to minimise disruption to employment.

“There are not separate systems for employed and self‑employed applicants and awards are assessed in line with policy and guidance for both groups of applicants.

“We are actively working to tackle the issues with the scheme we inherited, which we know is failing both employers and employees, to ensure that disabled people have the support, skills, and opportunities to move into good, secure jobs as part of our Plan for Change.”

DWP’s policy lead for Access to Work, Bill Thorpe, told MPs earlier this month that the department would be developing its proposals for AtW reform with members of its new independent disability advisory panel “over the next three to four months”, with its plans likely to be announced in the second half of this year.

*Not his real name