You can get thousands of pounds in support through the DWP scheme
DWP ministers has spoken about changes to a payment scheme available to benefit claimants and others. Top Government officials recently spoke to MPs about their work, with a particular focus on the support for disabled people in the workplace.
One topic that came up was the Access to Work scheme, which provides grants to help pay for the extra support needed by a person with a health condition or disability at work. Recent figures from the DWP show that in the 2024/2025 financial year, grants were paid out for 74,190 customers, with an average annual payment of £4,000.
The scheme actually offers much larger entitlements, as you can get up to £69,260 a year. The funds can go towards any specialist equipment that you need, for travel costs or for a support worker to help you do your job.
However, a Government document from October 2025 setting out policies to help people get into work, suggested that the scheme only support around 1 percent of disabled people who are working. The top officials were asked by the Work and Pensions Committee why there had been a recent rise in “reconsiderations” for awards.
Employment minister Diana Johnson said in response: “There’s been an attempt to try and make sure that policy and guidance is applied in a more consistent way. When people come forward to have their Access to Work grant renewed and perhaps are told no, or it has to change, or you’re not going to get quite what you had before, it may be because of that, because of the consistency of the guidance now being applied in that consistent way.”
The minister said those were just her initial thoughts and that she would have to look into it further to properly inform the committee of the reason. She was also quizzed about why there had been anecdotal reports of “cuts to award values”.
Ms Johnson said again this may be because of DWP policy being applied more uniformly. She explained: “What I’m told is, there’s quite a lot of discretion around the way that Access to Work had been applied by individual case workers. The idea was to try and provide that consistency.”
The ministers said they should be able to provide an update on changes to the Access to Work scheme going forward “soon”. The number of people who had any Access to Work provision approved went down from 63,450 people in the 2023/2024 financial year, down to 56,000 people the 2024/2025 year, representing a 12 percent decrease.
Who could be eligible for Access to Work grants?
You do not need to be receiving disability benefits to qualify for the scheme Guidance on the Government website about the scheme states that people on Universal Credit may be eligible.
The guidance explains: “Universal Credit is a single benefit paid to those in or out of employment. If you are claiming Universal Credit and have a disability or health condition, you will be able to apply for Access to Work for any paid work you do.”
People who claim PIP (Personal Independence Payment) may also want to check if they qualify. As PIP helps cover the extra costs of living with a long-term health condition or disability, receiving the benefit could help show that you have a health condition that qualifies you for Access to Work.
DWP guidance warns that you may not qualify if you claim one of these benefits:
- Incapacity Benefit
- legacy Employment Support Allowance
- Severe Disablement Allowance
- Income Support paid because of illness
- National Insurance credits.
