Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Huge recruitment boost to tackle backlog in vital disability work scheme, published on 19 May 2026, what preventative steps his Department is taking to avoid future backlogs in the Access to Work scheme.

As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement made of 19 May, to increase the efficiency and reduce waiting times for the scheme we will recruit an additional 480 case staff to process the higher volume of applications. When recruitment is complete, we will have more than twice as many staff working on Access to Work as in March 2024. The recruitment process has already begun, and new case managers will receive extensive training to handle complex applications with confidence. This will ensure disabled people, and people with health conditions can receive timely support to secure and sustain employment.