Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance her Department has provided to people who need to book a support workers but are experiencing excessive delays with Access to Work when (a) submitting a new application and (b) seeking to renewal their grant.

People applying for Access to Work for the first time are advised not to procure support until they have spoken to their Access to Work case manager to safeguard the individual from paying out money that we would not reimburse. After an initial conversation, the Access to Work case manager can put interim funding in place from the date of application to an estimated decision date.

When applying for a renewal application, customers who have a support worker(s), are advised to continue to book support at the rate agreed in their previous award, as Access to Work will be unable to reimburse customers for any costs which have not previously been agreed.

DWP is working hard to put support in place in the shortest timescale possible and streamline the renewal process for customers reapplying for on-going support to enable funding to be reimbursed quickly