Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2025 to Question 87802 on Access to Work Programme, whether his Department has any plans to collect data on employment outcomes for Access to Work customers following reassessments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Access to Work is only available to individuals who are in employment. The Department for Work and Pensions does not therefore collect data on employment outcomes for Access to Work applicants, including after reassessments.
In the Pathways to Work Green Paper, we consulted on the future of the Access to Work scheme. We are considering responses to the consultation and will set out our plans in due course.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2025 to Question 87803 on Access to Work Programme, whether his Department holds data on the (a) number and (b) proportion of Access to Work applications that have closed in each financial year from 2022-2023 to 2025-26 to date by (i) stage of the claim and (ii) reason for closure.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions does not close Access to Work applications. Instead, applications may be approved or not approved following assessment. The Department holds data on the number of applications that were not approved at the application outcome stage for each financial year as follows:
This represents a total of 108,314 applications not approved between April 2022 and October 2025, accounting for 28% of all decisions made during that period.
Data on non-approvals is only recorded at the application outcome stage.
The reasons for non-approval include:
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department holds on the number of Access to Work reassessments conducted in (a) 2022-2023, (b) 2024-2025 and (c) the financial year 2025-26 to date which resulted in (i) a reduction in funding, (ii) an increase in funding and (iii) no change in funding for the individual.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions does not record the outcomes of Access to Work reassessments in a way that allows for data extraction. This exercise would incur disproportionate cost.
Access to Work has not been substantially changed since its introduction in 1994. There is a strong case for updating the role it plays in making work accessible for disabled people. We recognise that Access to Work is providing a poor experience for some applicants with processing delays affecting employees’ ability to start or continue in employment, and employers’ ability to support them.
In the Pathways to Work Green Paper, we consulted on the future of Access to Work and how to improve the scheme so that it helps more disabled people in work. We are reviewing all aspects of Access to Work as we develop plans for reform following the conclusion of the consultation.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department holds data on (a) the number and (b) the proportion of Access to Work awards terminated within (i) six months and (ii) a year of reassessment for each of the financial years from 2022-2023 to 2025-26 to date.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions does not record award terminations in a way that allows for data extraction. This process would incur disproportionate cost.
Access to Work has not been substantially changed since its introduction in 1994. There is a strong case for updating the role it plays in making work accessible for disabled people. We recognise that Access to Work is providing a poor experience for some applicants with processing delays affecting employees’ ability to start or continue in employment, and employers’ ability to support them.
In the Pathways to Work Green Paper, we consulted on the future of Access to Work and how to improve the scheme so that it helps more disabled people in work. We are reviewing all aspects of Access to Work as we develop plans for reform following the conclusion of the consultation.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department holds data on the (a) number and (b) proportion of Access to Work applications terminated in each financial year from 2022-2023 to 2025-26 to date by (i) stage of the claim and (ii) reason for termination.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions does not terminate Access to Work applications. Instead, applications may not be approved following assessment.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) number and (b) percentage of Access to Work applicants who have lost their employment after a reassessment resulted in a reduction in the support they receive through the programme.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions has not assessed the (a) number and (b) percentage of Access to Work applicants who may have lost their employment following a reassessment that resulted in a reduction in the support they receive. The programme does not collect data on employment outcomes following reassessment decisions. Customers who disagree with a reassessment outcome may request a reconsideration of their award.
The scheme is there to support disabled people to start and stay in employment by providing tailored support based on individual needs. However it has not been substantially changed since its introduction in 1994. Given that, the government has consulted on the future of Access to Work and how to improve the scheme so that it helps more disabled people in work. We are reviewing all aspects of Access to Work as we develop plans for reform following the conclusion of the consultation.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2024 to Question 24973 on Attendance Allowance: Employment, for what reason his Department does not record the requested data.
Answered by Paul Maynard
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's statistical release Unfulfilled eligibility in the benefit system: financial year 2023 to 2024 estimates, publish on 16 May 2024, whether his Department has made an assessment of the reasons for unfulfilled Personal Independence Payment eligibility.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
We are committed to ensuring people can access financial support in a timely manner and understand the importance of paying people their correct entitlement. For PIP, we encourage all claimants in our communications with them and on Gov.UK to inform us if their needs have changed for better or worse. We are also prioritising claims where a claimant reports a change in their needs to ensure we are paying individuals the right amount.
The statistical release notes that all unfulfilled eligibility for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) awards was due to claimants failing to inform the department they needed more help or their condition had deteriorated.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's statistics entitled Unfulfilled eligibility in the benefit system: financial year 2023 to 2024 estimates, published on 16 May 2024, what steps his Department is taking to tackle unfulfilled Personal Independence Payment eligibility.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
We are committed to ensuring people can access financial support in a timely manner and understand the importance of paying people their correct entitlement. For PIP, we encourage all claimants in our communications with them and on Gov.UK to inform us if their needs have changed for better or worse. We are also prioritising claims where a claimant reports a change in their needs to ensure we are paying individuals the right amount.
The statistical release notes that all unfulfilled eligibility for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) awards was due to claimants failing to inform the department they needed more help or their condition had deteriorated.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the longest wait time was between an person submitting an Access to Work application and receiving initial contact from his Department in the last (a) six and (b) 12 months.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The information requested for the longest wait time between an individual submitting an Access to Work application and receiving initial contact from his Department in the last (a) six and (b) twelve months is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
However, the Access to Work statistics includes how many applications result in provision being approved from 2007/08 to 2022/23. Please see Table 3 of the Access to Work statistics.
The latest Access to Work statistics can be on the Access to Work statistics on GOV.UK