Accessing Access to Work as an Employed Person
You might have never heard of Access to Work, and that wouldn’t be a huge surprise - it’s a government scheme that they don’t like to advertise very much.
You could be getting so much support at work, regardless of whether you’re in an office full-time or working remotely for your employer.
Read on for more information!
What is Access to Work?
Access to Work is a publicly funded programme designed to support disabled, neurodivergent, and chronically ill people to start work and thrive in their careers.
You could be entitled to a grant of up to £66,000 and that can be used for a variety of things including a support worker, special aids and equipment, transportation costs, and even for changes to your employer’s office space. We’ll go into more details below.
Who is eligible for Access to Work?
If you’re disabled under the Equality Act 2010 and employed or self-employed, then you’re eligible.
You are disabled by the Equality Act “if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a 'substantial' and 'long-term' negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities”.
Access to Work provides a bit more detail about who can apply:
Someone with a disability or health condition who needs support to do their job
Someone with a mental health condition who needs support at work
You’ll also need to be:
Over 16
Be in (or about to start) paid employment
Normally resident in England, Scotland, or Wales
Not be claiming Incapacity Benefit or Employment Support Allowance once you’re in work
Also, you’re still eligible to apply if your job is partially - or fully - remote.
How does Access to Work benefit an employed person?
Only around half of all disabled people are in employment, and Access to Work is designed to help make employment more manageable.
Lots of workplaces try their best to be accessible but still don’t give disabled employees all the help they need. Access to Work can support your reasonable adjustments at work - something every employee is entitled to under the Equality Act (2010) - and fund things like coaching, support workers, and changes to your workspace which your employer might otherwise not have the budget for.
How much does Access to Work cost?
Access to Work will usually pay grants of up to 100% for:
Self-employed people
People who have been working for less than 6 weeks when they first apply for Access to Work
The Mental Health Support Service
Support workers
Additional travel to work and travel in work costs
Communication support at interviews
For anything else, your employer is expected to make a small contribution, depending on their size. For more information about this, see our guide on Access to Work for employers here.
What does Access to Work pay for?
Honestly, it’s really hard to create an extensive list, but we’re going to give it a good go!
Access to Work can pay for:
Disability Awareness Training - SIC can work with your teammates to ensure that they understand the nuances of disability and neurodivergence. You can be as hands-on as you like in terms of the design of the training so that your colleagues get training that is relevant to you. Or you can simply choose one of our current products. Find out more about our training, consulting, and workshops here. Drop us an email too and we will try to help you with your application and provide you with quotes for what you need. The best email is hello@sicofficial.co.uk
Support worker - As a rule of thumb, they’ll provide a support worker (AKA a personal assistant or VA) for 20% of your working hours. However, if you’ve got multiple conditions or specific challenges then you can ask for more. You might need to advocate for yourself here, but it can be really worth it. Make sure you ask for a “support worker” - Access to Work loves to use very specific phrases.
Disability Impact Training - If you’ve just been diagnosed with your condition or come to terms with a new condition, this can be a huge help. It’s effectively a form of coaching/mentoring that focuses on adjustments, adaptations, and a bunch of tips and tricks. This is something we can also help with - Drop us an email to discuss!
Coaching - This is something that Access to Work seems pretty keen on, so even if it doesn’t float your boat it’s good to show willingness. Your coach will usually specialise in your specific disability or neurodivergence and you’re allowed to choose someone who you’d specifically like to work with.
Special aids and equipment - this can be anything from a specialist screen, a new office chair, an adapted desk, a writing tablet, blue light-filtered glasses… if you can think of something that would help you at work, there’s no harm in asking for it.
Adaptions to premises or equipment - if the lift or ramp at your workplace needs an upgrade, or if you work remotely and there are access barriers in your home office - these things and more can be covered!
Tech - this can be anything from proofreading tools, screen readers, project management support, and loads of things that can help you with your day-to-day. You can also ask for training on new software.
Travel - if your office is next to a tube station that isn’t wheelchair accessible, or you’re out in the sticks, transport costs such as taxis can be covered. They’ll also cover additional overnight stays. Say for example you need to visit another office or a client then they can pay for overnight accommodation so that you can recuperate prior to and after your working day.
Memberships - perhaps you’d really benefit from a network of peers who are also disabled or neurodivergent? FLOWN is a great organization that offers virtual co-working, a custom calendar, and other productivity support.
How to apply for Access to Work
You can apply online here or apply by phone.
Ahead of applying you’ll need these things to hand:
Your contact details
Your workplace address and postcode
Information about how your condition affects your work and what support you think you might need.
Details of a workplace contact who can confirm where you work
Your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number, if you’re partially self-employed
Someone from Access to Work will then be in touch to discuss the application (often this is a phone call out of the blue around 12-18 weeks after applying). Your employer can help you with your application, and you can nominate them (or someone in HR) as the person to talk to or ask for a time to be arranged when you’re both there.
After the assessment, you’ll normally get a decision quite quickly (a few weeks) but that decision is not final. If there’s anything that needs to be reconsidered (such as the cost of a specific service) then you can either call the helpline or respond to the email from the person managing the account.
The money is then claimed via either paper forms or an online portal.
Other things you need to know about Access to Work
Know the cost of things first
The pricing is not always that accurate. If you want to use a specialist agency for a support worker, know their pricing in advance. I’ve known support worker estimates of £10 and £12 an hour from Access to Work, when in reality they’re much more likely to be between £20-40 an hour, and sometimes subject to VAT too.
If there are specific things you want, know their prices and have them to hand when you have your assessment. It makes Access to Work’s life easier and will mean there’s less back-and-forth for you too. (In theory!)
Know what to prioritise
£66k can feel like a huge amount of money when you’re starting on your Access to Work journey. But with a specialist support worker, that money disappears quite quickly. There are quite a few things that can seem tempting but try to really figure out what would be the most helpful - a list of 3-5 key things is a good amount.
If you struggle with numbers, have your manager, a colleague, or even a friend go through how much things might cost so that you know how much of an award you need and what you want to prioritise when you speak to an advisor.
Keep re-applying
Our CEO, Alice, says ‘My first award was only 11 months because I didn’t get a confirmation email through very quickly. So I’ve already set aside time 12 weeks before that award finishes to apply again. I’ve been told sometimes they’ll up the length of the award if things don’t change from year to year.’
Think about the freemium stuff you have, and if premium would help
If you love Asana or any other project management tool or things like Grammarly but it’s not something your employers are willing to pay for,, then this could be an opportunity to change that. However, make sure it’s something you can have at work. Some employers might have contracts with specific providers so it’s worth finding out what you can cover.
Work with SIC
At SIC we ensure that we bring intersectional, social-model friendly training, consulting, and workshops that is delivered by lived-experience experts. We’re creative, friendly, open, and create safe spaces where everyone feels safe to learn and develop.
We can help you with:
Consulting - if no one within the organisation you’re working for knows how to create an Access to Work application, we can arrange 1:1 consulting with them to support them on your application. We can also refer them to relevant support services and software to make their lives easier.
Disability Impact Training - we have expert consultants with relevant lived experience to help you navigate a new diagnosis, or a new working environment that can really help you thrive in the workplace.
Disability / Neurodivergence Awareness training - feel like your team at work just doesn’t get it? We got you! We provide creative workshops and training sessions (and you can get involved in the design of it too) that helps to create a better and more inclusive working environment.
Plus - did you know that we run as a non-profit? This means that any of these services that are paid for by Access to Work help us to help more disabled and neurodivergent people with free support throughout their careers.
Any of this sound very much needed? Drop us an email so we can start to work together!
Ask the experts
We have monthly career clinics where topics like Access to Work always come up so take the opportunity to join us. You can find out more here.
Some support worker agencies will also help you through the whole process for free, if they think you’re likely to be awarded a support worker.
Here are a few we’ve found.
Click here for Send It To Alex’s website (Neurodivergent only)
Click here for Wired Differently’s website (Neurodivergent only but does have a quote template and idea of fees)
Click here for Admin and More’s website (there is a fee for their services)
Need to know more about Access to Work?
This is by no means an extensive guide and is informed by our lived experience. We do hope though that we can adapt this blog and grow it. If you have a specific question we haven’t covered, or even have some advice to share, get in touch via hello@sicofficial.co.uk and we’ll be happy to answer your questions and update this article where necessary.
Looking for a guide for employers? We’ve got one here!
Looking for a guide for self-employed people? We’ve got one here!
