Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the budget for the Access to Work scheme has been underspent, and if so, by how much, in each of the past five years.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Access to Work grant expenditure has been underspent against budget in three of the past five years.
£m | 18/19 | 19/20 | 20/21 | 21/22 | 22/23 |
Budget (mid-year adjusted) | 117.1 | 145.3 | 108.6 | 151.9 | 178.3 |
Full year outturn | 124.5 | 146.8 | 104.5 | 146.5 | 177.3 |
(Over) / Underspend | (7.4) | (1.4) | 4.1 | 5.5 | 1.0 |
Other than years impacted by the Pandemic, the grant expenditure has increased year on year.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any delays, and the reasons for such delays, in paying funds to employment support providers who have successfully applied for help from the Access to Work scheme.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not routinely collect data on the funding provided directly to employment support providers. Access to Work funding is, in most cases, paid directly to the customer, unless the customer requests that the funding is paid directly to an employment support provider.
Access to work has recruited additional staff to ensure a high level of customer service. The digital payments portal was introduced in June 2023 and is available for all customers that choose to claim online.
Access to Work has received significant increase in payment claims over the last year and have recruited new staff to meet the increased demand and reduce the time it takes to make payments.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the estimated average time span from application to payment for employment support providers seeking help from the Access to Work scheme.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not routinely collect data on the funding provided directly to employment support providers. Access to Work funding is, in most cases, paid directly to the customer, unless the customer requests that the funding is paid directly to an employment support provider.
Access to work has recruited additional staff to ensure a high level of customer service. The digital payments portal was introduced in June 2023 and is available for all customers that choose to claim online.
Access to Work has received significant increase in payment claims over the last year and have recruited new staff to meet the increased demand and reduce the time it takes to make payments.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many employment support providers have received support from the Access to Work scheme in each of the past five years.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not routinely collect data on the funding provided directly to employment support providers. Access to Work funding is, in most cases, paid directly to the customer, unless the customer requests that the funding is paid directly to an employment support provider.
Access to work has recruited additional staff to ensure a high level of customer service. The digital payments portal was introduced in June 2023 and is available for all customers that choose to claim online.
Access to Work has received significant increase in payment claims over the last year and have recruited new staff to meet the increased demand and reduce the time it takes to make payments.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government why autism is defined as a disability in some application forms for help from the Access to Work scheme and not in other cases.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
To apply for Access to Work customers must complete an application either online or over the phone. The application is the same no matter how they complete it. Customers are asked to describe their condition in their own words and how it impacts their work. The application form does not list or ask about any specific conditions. This supports the principle that Access to Work is tailored to each customer’s disability and support need.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many businesses and companies in (1) England, (2) Scotland, and (3) Wales, have received support from the Access to Work scheme to employ disabled people.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Access to Work applications are made by employees or self-employed individuals. The scheme provides grants to fund support for those individuals. Table 8 of the Access to Work Official Statistics includes the number of people who received Access to Work provision from 2009/10 to 2021/22 by region.
The latest Access to Work statistics can be found here:
Access to Work statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with charities supporting disabled people about the operation of the Access to Work scheme.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP regularly attends Access to Work national stakeholder forums with charities and disabled people’s organisations from across England, Scotland and Wales to discuss Access to Work.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many disabled people have secured jobs through the Access to Work scheme.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested about the number of disabled people who have secured jobs through Access to Work is not available. Access to Work does not provide support to find jobs. It is a grant that provides individuals with funding for support and adaptations beyond reasonable adjustments to retain employment. To receive Access to Work support, applicants must be employed, self-employed, about to start work, participating in a supported internship/traineeship, taking part in work experience/work trial, or require communication support at interview.
Information on how many individuals receive Access to Work support is in table 6 of the Access to Work Official Statistics.
The latest Access to Work statistics can be found here:
Access to Work statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many disabled people who have found work through the Access to Work scheme are in (1) full-time, and (2) part-time, employment.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested on the number of people who have found work through the Access to Work scheme is not available. Access to Work does not provide support to find jobs. It is a grant that provides individuals with funding for support and adaptations beyond reasonable adjustments to retain employment. To receive Access to Work support, applicants must be employed, self-employed, about to start work, participating in a supported internship/traineeship, taking part in work experience/work trial, or require communication support at interview.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which sectors they have identified as providing particular opportunities to employ disabled people.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
Disabled people work across all industries and sectors but are relatively more likely (42.6%), compared to non-disabled (35.4%) people, to work in the health, retail and education sectors1. Disabled workers are less likely to be working in the private sector than non-disabled workers and consequently more likely to be working in the public sector (26.5% of disabled workers in the public sector and 23.1% of non-disabled workers in the public sector).
Employers within the Disability Confident scheme provide employment opportunities, including for disabled people, across a wide range of industry sectors. When signing up to the scheme employers must commit to 5 actions and at least 1 activity that will make a positive difference to the employment of disabled people. The Disability Confident scheme supports employers to make the most of the talents disabled people can bring to the workplace. It provides employers with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace. DWP also works with sector facing Departments across Government to identify the particular barriers faced by jobseekers, including those with a disability, and consider what Government and industry can do together to remove these barriers, in order to help people into work at a time of record vacancies.
1 Source: Annual Population Survey 2020/21