Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to address the impact of Access to Work delays on disabled people in (a) West Dorset and (b) other rural areas.

The Access to Work Scheme is centrally administered and makes no distinction between the processing of applications from different regions.

Demand for Access to Work has been growing. In 2023-2024, 67,720 people were approved for Access to Work provision. This is around a 32% increase when compared to the previous year.

We are continuing to streamline delivery practices and have increased the number of staff processing claims. Since May 2024, 118 additional staff have been redeployed to support Access to Work.

Despite this, the number of Access to Work applications waiting to be processed is continuing to grow, with over 62,000 applications outstanding as of February 2025. In addition, the average processing time for Access to Work applications was 92 days from April 2025 to June 2025. We are prioritising customers who are making new applications, those who are due to start a job within the next 4 weeks, or those whose existing grant requires renewal.

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.

This combination of delays, poor experience and perceived inconsistency by some customers means the Access to Work scheme needs reform in order to support disabled people starting or continuing in employment better, and to support their employers more effectively.