Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications to the Access to Work Scheme were outstanding as of 21 June 2023; and what steps he is taking to reduce the number of outstanding applications.

As of the 21^st June 2023 there were 22,809 applications outstanding.

Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.

Access to Work has received a significant increase in applications over the last year and have recruited new staff to meet the increased demand and reduce the time it takes to make decisions. Customers making new applications where they are starting work within the next 4 weeks, or have a grant coming to an end that requires renewal are prioritised to ensure customers are able to enter and remain in the labour market. We are also streamlining and transforming the Access to Work service through increased digitalisation, that will make the service more efficient, will make the application process easier, and improve the time taken from application through to decision.