Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it is her Departments policy that people applying for support for equipment under the Access to Work programme are required to make a new application when they change jobs.

To enable disabled people to receive the appropriate in-work support, they may need to contact Access to Work when they change job if their support needs or equipment change. Where the disabled person changes job and their support needs and equipment remain the same, there is no need to make a new application, as Access to Work will fund the costs of moving equipment previously funded by Access to Work.

To support disabled people to have flexibility to access short term contracts, Access to Work has also introduced a flexible application for self-employed freelancers and contractors. The flexible application enables support to be transitioned from job to job, regardless of the time lapse between periods of employment and provides assurance for the disabled person and potential employers.