How do you apply for Access to Work and how long does it take?

Access to Work is the DWP scheme that funds practical support to help disabled people start work, stay in work, or run their own business. Crucially, it is not means-tested: eligibility depends on having a disability or health condition that affects your ability to work, not on your income or savings.

The application process

• Apply online at gov.uk/access-to-work, or call the Access to Work helpline.
• Have ready: your employer's details (or your self-employment details), a description of how your disability or condition affects your work, and your own view of what support would help.
• A case manager will then contact you to discuss your needs and may recommend an assessment.

Decisions typically take several weeks, so apply as early as possible — ideally before a new job starts, because backdating support is not always possible. For larger awards there are cost-sharing arrangements with employers, but you as the individual do not contribute financially.

What Access to Work can pay for

The scheme is flexible and built around your actual job. It can fund workplace adaptations and assistive technology, and it can pay for a support worker or job coach where that person's role is specifically to support you in your employment duties — the support worker can be self-employed or come from an agency. There is also a separate Mental Health Support Service offering up to nine months of specialist support from an employment adviser for people with mental health conditions.

If you are self-employed, Access to Work can cover support costs once your business is trading, and it sits alongside other routes for disabled entrepreneurs — the Start Up Loans scheme is open to disabled applicants on the same terms as everyone else. For help with adaptations at home rather than at work, the separate Disabled Facilities Grant applies (means-tested for adults, not for children under 18).