1 Introduction
In the text of this report, our conclusions are set
out in bold type and our recommendations, to which the
Government is required to respond, are set out in bold italic
type.
1. Despite progress over recent decades, people with
disabilities are still at a considerable disadvantage in the UK
labour market. Official data show a substantial gap between the
employment rate of working age people with disabilities (51%)
and that of the general working age population (73%).[1]
A large number of people fall out of employment each year due
to ill health and disability: some 429,000 people in 2013.[2]
The Access to Work programme
2. Access to Work (AtW) is a publicly funded employment
support programme, administered by the Department for Work and
Pensions (DWP). The programme aims to help level the playing field
for disabled people in the labour market. It addresses barriers
to employment by providing a range of practical help. Support
is available to all long-term disabled people aged 16 years and
over who are in, or about to start, paid work, including self-employment.
3. AtW can be used to fund single or multiple adaptations
or pieces of equipment, or ongoing support, for example work-related
travel costs, communication support for deaf people, Support Workers
for people with learning disabilities or autism, or help to overcome
difficulties at work presented by mental health issues. Ongoing
awards tend to be granted for three years and are typically reviewed
annually.[3]
4. AtW is a discretionary award; it is not a statutory
benefit to which eligible people have a legal entitlement. Applicants
have no right to a formal appeal against DWP's decisions on their
eligibility or level of award.[4]
The programme is intended to provide a level of support above
the "reasonable adjustments" which some employers are
required to make by law.[5]
Larger employers are required to make a financial contribution
to some types of AtW support for their employees.[6]
The Sayce Review
5. AtW is part of a range of publicly funded specialist
disability employment support, most of which offers help to people
who are unemployed, through Jobcentre Plus or providers of DWP's
two main contracted employment programmes, the Work Programme
and Work Choice. Until recently some disabled people worked in
government-subsidised supported employment, in factory businesses
run by Remploy. AtW is unique in supporting disabled people who
have secured a "mainstream" job or are already in work
but need some practical help to stay there.
6. In 2011 Liz Sayce OBE, then Chief Executive of
the Royal Association for Disability Rights, was asked by the
Government to undertake a review of the range of available specialist
support. Her report highlighted "overwhelming support"
for the AtW programme. She described it as "highly effective
and well-liked" by "service users, employers, disabled
people's organisations and charities." She also concluded
that AtW was in line with most disabled people's aspirations to
work in mainstream employment, rather than in any form of supported
or subsidised work, such as that then provided in Remploy's factory
businesses.
7. Liz Sayce emphasised that AtW currently helps
far fewer disabled people than might potentially benefit from
it. She described the programme as being "rationed by a lack
of publicity"; it was consequently "the Government's
best-kept secret". Awareness of AtW was particularly low
amongst smaller employers and particular groups of disabled people,
including people with mental ill health and intellectual, cognitive,
and developmental impairments.
8. The Sayce Review's recommendations in relation
to AtW were primarily designed to: raise awareness of, and access
to, the programme, particularly amongst currently under-represented
groups; create efficiencies in the way AtW support is provided;
and substantially increase the number of people the programme
helps. She recommended that Remploy's factories be closed or sold,
with the savings from its public subsidy funding then released
to be used for other elements of employment support for disabled
people, including AtW. The recommendations were accepted by the
Government, which subsequently appointed an expert panel, led
by Mike Adams OBE, Chair of ECDP, a Disabled People's User Led
Group, to consider how they could be implemented.
Our inquiry and the current DWP
internal review
9. Our starting point for this inquiry was agreement
with the broad conclusions of the Sayce Review; we therefore wanted
to monitor progress towards implementation of some of its key
recommendations. We also set out to consider in some detail DWP's
administration of the programme, and identify potential improvements,
including improving access for the groups identified by Liz Sayce
as being under-represented in the current AtW "caseload".
[7]
10. During the course of our inquiry the then DWP
Minister for Disabled People (Mike Penning MP) announced an internal
departmental review of AtW, largely in response to serious concerns
expressed by deaf people who use AtW to fund British Sign Language
(BSL) support at work. DWP's review is currently looking for ways
to "support more disabled people and further improve customer
service."[8] In oral
evidence, the current Minister (Mark Harper MP) assured us that
the Department had been following the evidence to our inquiry
very closely and was considering many of the same issues.[9]
We therefore expect our Report to inform DWP's internal review,
which we hope will lead to substantial improvements to the programme.
11. We received over 340 written and BSL video submissions,
most of which were accepted as formal written evidence (video
submissions were transcribed) and are published online.[10]
We held four oral evidence sessions with: Liz Sayce and Mike Adams;
witnesses representing users of AtW with a wide range of impairments;
employers, a self-employed person and small business owner, and
providers of AtW support; and the Minister, Mark Harper MP, and
Colin Stewart, Work Services Director, North West England, DWP.
A full list of witnesses is available at the end of this Report.
12. We would like to thank everyone who contributed
to the inquiry, particularly those who offered help and advice
on making the inquiry accessible and the many individual AtW service
users who took time to share their experiences with us.
1 Office for National Statistic, Labour Market Statistics,
November 2014, Statistical Bulletin; table A08 [employment rate
for disabled people includes people with a disability as defined
by the Equality Act 2010 and/or work-limiting disabilities] Back
2
Scope, A million futures: Halving the disability employment gap,
April 2014 Back
3
See www.gov.uk/access-to-work/overview; DWP (ATW0235) Back
4
DWP, Access to Work guidance, version 24, para 631 Back
5
Equality Act 2010 Back
6
DWP/JCP, Employers' Guide to Access to Work [accessed 19 November
2014] Back
7
See Sayce, L., Getting in, staying in and getting on: Disability employment support fit for the future,
June 2011 [Hereafter, Sayce Review]; DWP, Specialist disability employment programmes: Government's response to Liz Sayce's independent review of specialist disability employment programmes, Getting in, staying in and getting on,
Cm 8106, July 2011; and HC Deb, 4 July 2012, cols 59-61WS Back
8
HC Deb, 10 June 2014, cols 45-46WS Back
9
Q254 [Mr Harper] Back
10
A list of published written evidence is set out at the end of
this report Back
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