Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the cap on Access to Work funding does not affect deaf employees (a) applying for a promotion or (b) developing a career.

In March 2015 the Government announced a new annual limit (known as the cap) on Access to Work (AtW) awards, and set it at 1.5 times the median gross annual earnings for full-time employees (as published annually by the Office for National Statistics). By definition, this is more than most full-time employees earn. In April 2018, the cap will rise to £43,100 per person per year, in line with the latest published median gross annual earnings figure.

At the time of the announcement, we made it clear that customers whose awards were above the cap when it was introduced in October 2015 would retain their current award (subject to their needs remaining the same) until April 2018, to enable them to adjust to new levels of support.

Since 2015, we have written to all affected customers and established specialist teams of Access to Work advisers who will work with employers and customers to explore what extra advice and support those customers may need. We have offered customers workplace assessments to advise on:

• what adjustments an employer might reasonably make,
• the latest range of support and equipment available through AtW, and;
• other ways of meeting support needs – for example through better co-ordination of tasks and support.

AtW specialist advisers are also providing customers with information about:

• video relay services or other technological solutions, and;
• the forthcoming trial of managed personal budgets.

The Equality Analysis published in May 2015 identified 200 customers with awards exceeding the level of the cap. It also highlighted that the average annual award for BSL users is around £10,000 per year – less than a quarter of the level of the cap. Deaf people are the largest customer group and last year (2016/17) the number of deaf people with AtW support approved rose by 13%, compared to an 8% increase in customers with any AtW support approved overall.