Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to reduce Access to Work claim (a) application and (b) renewal times; if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of removing the cap on Access to Work; and if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the Access to Work scheme in helping disabled people to (i) stay in and (ii) start work.

The Department for Work and Pensions is committed to reducing waiting times for new applications for Access to Work, as well as renewals. We are considering the best way to deliver that for customers. We have increased the number of staff processing Access to Work claims and have prioritised applications from customers who are about to start a job and renewals.

There are no current plans to change the maximum amount of annual grants available in Access to Work but we will keep this under review.

Access to Work is a popular scheme that helps many disabled people and those with health conditions to have suitable workplace adjustments. The 2018 qualitative evaluation of Access to Work (Access to Work: Qualitative Research with applicants, employers and delivery staff) reported that customers felt the scheme helped them to retain and progress in employment, improve confidence and mental wellbeing, and better enabled employers to recruit employees with health conditions or disabled employees.