Minister refuses once again to reveal truth about cuts to Access to Work

The disability minister has refused once again to explain what role he played in his department’s secret programme to cut Access to Work (AtW) grants.

It is the latest failure by Sir Stephen Timms to clarify when and how the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) took the decision that guidance should be “more consistently applied” and that AtW staff should be more “scrupulous” in applying the guidance.

That decision led to significant cuts to the number of AtW grants being awarded, and to the size of many grants being reduced.

Sir Stephen told Disability News Service (DNS) at Labour’s annual conference in September (pictured) that he would provide the date on which he approved an order from senior DWP civil servants for AtW staff to be more “scrupulous” in how they applied guidance.

But he has failed to provide that date.

Instead, DWP provided background information which failed to clarify when, or if, Sir Stephen approved a document about the guidance, but which suggested that the changes were put into effect through additional training for AtW case managers.

It suggested – although it refused to clarify this – that he may have seen a document but did not have to approve it.

Now Sir Stephen is claiming that he did not go back on his word by failing to provide the date, even though the information provided by DWP’s press office offered no date or clarity on how and when the new AtW regime was introduced.

He told DNS that he was “disappointed” to see the DNS report “stating, incorrectly, that I had gone back on my word”.

He said: “After we met, I checked what had happened, as I said I would.

“What I established was, as stated in the note you had from the department’s press office, ‘No submission has been sent to the Minister seeking a decision on case manager training as this is standard practice to improve our service.’

“I did ensure that the information I promised reached you.”

But when DNS asked – yet again – for clarity on who made the decision to apply the guidance more scrupulously, when it was shared with AtW staff, in what form it was sent to them, when he saw this information, and whether he approved it or just read it, he refused to provide any further information.

Instead, he wrongly stated in an email to DNS: “I fully delivered – via the press office – on the assurance I gave you.”

He had failed to respond to a further request for clarity by noon today (Thursday).

The first signs of how the new AtW regime has been impacting disabled people seeking support through the disability employment scheme came last month when DWP figures showed the number of people who had had any AtW provision approved fell by more than 10 per cent in the year to March 2025.

It is thought that more up-to-date figures will show a much steeper fall since the new rules began to be applied.

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