What is it?
Access to Work can help you if your health or disability affects the way you do your job. It gives you and your employer advice and support with extra costs which may arise because of your needs.
How can it help?
Access to Work can help you in a number of ways. For example, it can help pay for:
• adaptations to premises and equipment
• miscellaneous items of support such as a grant towards the costs of deaf awareness training for close colleagues of a deaf person
• special aids and equipment
• support workers
• travel to work
What level of support costs are available?
The amount of help which you may receive from Access to Work will vary depending on how long you have been employed, what support you need and whether you are self-employed.
Access to Work pays a proportion of the costs of support if:
You are working for an employer and you have been in the job for six weeks or more and you need special equipment or adaptations to premises. In these circumstances, your employer would be expected to pay the first £300 of the costs of support, plus a further minimum 20% of the costs up to a ceiling of £10,000. Jobcentre Plus would pay the remaining amount up to a maximum of 80% and up to 100% of agreed costs over £10,000.
Access to Work can pay up to 100% of the approved costs if you are:
• unemployed and starting a new job
• self-employed
• working for an employer and have been in the job for less than six weeks
Whatever your employment status Access to Work will also pay up to 100% of the approved costs of help with:
• support workers
• fares to work
• communicator support at interview
Who is eligible?
In order to receive Access to Work assistance, you will need to satisfy the following basic conditions. You must:
• Be disabled (and the disability is likely to last for 12 months or longer)
• Have a long term health condition, with your disability or health condition stopping you from being able to do parts of your job. Your disability or health condition may not have a big effect on what you do each day, but may have a long term effect on how well you can do your job.
• Be resident in Great Britain, excluding Northern Ireland, with employment in Great Britain
Other eligibility criteria apply and an Access to Work adviser will be able to inform you in more detail about the conditions that apply.
Further information
• learn more about Access to Work at the Jobcentre Plus website: jobcentreplus.gov.uk
• learn more about the Disability Discrimination Act at the Department for Work and Pensions website: dwp.gov.uk
