Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason applications for Access to Work from self-employed customers are not being allocated for processing until over 18 months from the date of receipt; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of delays on disabled applicants.

Delays in allocating Access to Work applications for self‑employed customers are due to high demand and the additional complexity of these cases, which often require further evidence such as tax and income details.

The Department recognises the impact of these delays, particularly for disabled applicants without employer support. To address this, steps have been taken to recruit additional staff to clear the backlog and improve processing times: Huge recruitment boost to tackle backlog in vital disability work scheme - GOV.UK.

Priority is given to customers starting work within four weeks and to those renewing awards, to minimise disruption to employment.