Second wave of cuts could lead to ‘decimation’ of Access to Work scheme, but DWP refuses to comment

The Labour government has launched a new cost-cutting drive aimed at Access to Work, which insiders fear could destroy the scheme and lead to disabled people being forced to quit their jobs.

Leaked information from multiple sources suggests the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is planning two waves of cost-cutting that will make it significantly harder for disabled people to secure support through the disability employment programme.

The cuts come as Labour ministers continue to insist that their Pathways to Work green paper – and its billions of pounds of cuts to disability benefits – is focused on helping disabled people find work and stay in employment.

One disabled expert who works in the sector told Disability News Service (DNS) this week that the changes will “directly undermine” the government’s disability employment agenda.

DWP had refused to comment on the leaks by noon today (Thursday), nearly three days after DNS requested a response.

There will be significant alarm among disabled people that the cuts are being introduced while proposed changes to Access to Work (AtW) are currently being consulted on as part of the green paper, with that process not due to end until the end of next month.

The AtW scheme is already under huge pressure, with lengthy delays for new claimants and renewals, and frequent complaints about funding decisions made by case managers.

DNS and disability consultant Alice Hastie – who specialises in providing AtW advice – were separately contacted last week by DWP insiders with information about changes to AtW “operational delivery”.

Both sources said ministers were introducing cuts this week that would reduce the range of equipment that AtW will fund.

This will mean AtW no longer funding items such as headsets, voice recorders, software for reading and writing, back supports, footrests, and chairs, desks and keyboards, even if they are ergonomic, as they will be seen as “standard business items”.

AtW will also introduce a strict cap on the hourly rates it pays support workers.

Hastie’s source said AtW was also now taking a stricter view of the kind of tasks that support workers are allowed to carry out if they are funded as “job aides”.

Tasks such as typing emails and notetaking will only be funded for a maximum of 20 per cent of a disabled person’s working hours, as such tasks will be seen as “replacement” rather than “enablement”.

Hastie said DWP was likely to explain the new measures as “a clarification of existing rules” rather than a new policy.

But she added: “What it’s actually saying is cuts, cuts, cuts.”

In a post on LinkedIn, Hastie said of this week’s cuts: “Overall, in my opinion, these changes will directly undermine the Government’s stated aims of getting more disabled people working and off disability benefits.”

She told DNS the impact of the cuts would be hugely significant, particularly for self-employed disabled people, many of whom have started working for themselves as their last attempt at staying in work, often because of their high support needs and unsupportive employers.

She said: “There are some good points. Employers need to take more responsibility for standard business costs, particularly big employers such as the NHS and big universities who need to provide reasonable adjustments.

“But my biggest worry is the impact on the self-employed and small businesses.

“These costs could be completely unmanageable for them.

“I suspect people will struggle on for a while, and their health and mental health will get worse.

“I suspect in the medium term, people will stop working.

“And at the same time, there are all the worries about personal independence payment being taken away (see separate story). It’s a nightmare for people.”

But on top of the changes taking place this week, DNS has also been told of a “second wave” of cuts that will be introduced later this year, probably in August or September.

These appear to be even harsher cuts, with the government moving to “tear up Access to Work as we know it”, as the DNS anonymous source described the measures.

AtW grants will be reduced from three years to just one – although in practice most grants are now already restricted to one year – forcing disabled people to re-apply annually for support.

Ministers will also introduce a new maximum of 35 hours-a-week funding for support workers.

This may pose particular problems for Deaf recipients of AtW funding who need an interpreter with them throughout a regular 40-hour week.

But the measure most likely to alarm AtW recipients and those in the disability sector is that from later this year – DNS has been told – DWP will stop funding any support workers other than interpreters and job coaches.

This would mean that disabled people with significant physical impairments would no longer be able to secure funding from AtW to pay for support workers to help them with physical tasks such as operating office equipment or completing paperwork.

Hastie said this second wave of cuts was “really quite alarming” and together with the first wave would “lead to the decimation of the scheme as we know it”.

Her source told her yesterday (Wednesday) that case managers believed that this second wave of cuts “will be stronger and focussed on travel support and support workers”.

Hastie said: “They have been told that people will be unhappier with that wave coming in autumn.”

The source of the DNS leak said in an email: “It is unclear under what logic DWP have decided to make this huge decision to hack away at support.”

Another source, who works regularly with AtW, said some of the measures being announced to DWP staff this week were already standard practice.

She said it was already difficult to secure AtW funding for support workers, which are “the last thing they will give you”, while most support packages are being cut by between 40 and 60 per cent when they are up for renewal.

She said: “They are systematically cutting people’s grants.”

And she said the “ultimate outcome” of the cuts would be a higher benefits bill and greater costs for the NHS.

She added: “Keir Starmer wants to get people working; this is doing the opposite to that.”

The government’s Pathways to Work green paper is currently consulting on the future of Access to Work, and it suggests that ministers want to cut future spending on the scheme, which is set to increase from £142 million in 2019-20 to £385 million this year.

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

A note from the editor:

Please consider making a voluntary financial contribution to support the work of DNS and allow it to continue producing independent, carefully-researched news stories that focus on the lives and rights of disabled people and their user-led organisations.

Please do not contribute if you cannot afford to do so, and please note that DNS is not a charity. It is run and owned by disabled journalist John Pring and has been from its launch in April 2009.

Thank you for anything you can do to support the work of DNS…