Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral answer of 7 October 2024 from the Minister for Employment, Official Report, column 6, what changes have been made to the Access to Work Scheme since the beginning of this Parliament; how many additional staff have been assigned to processing Access to Work claims since the beginning of this Parliament; and from which other area these staff have been diverted.

Since the beginning of this Parliament the Department for Work and Pensions has taken steps to improve operational guidance and process to ensure Access to Work grants are awarded consistently and as quickly as possible.

Since July 2024, twenty-three additional staff have been deployed to support Access to Work. Of these, twenty-two were new recruits and one was redeployed from the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) team.