Research and analysis

Access to Work research review

This research updates the evidence on Access to Work, a government programme aimed at supporting disabled people to take up or remain in work.

• From: Department for Work and Pensions
• Published: 13 November 2018
• Last updated: 17 July 2026 — See all updates

Documents

Access to Work: Qualitative research with applicants, employers and delivery staff

HTML

Feasibility of evaluating the impact of the Access to Work programme

HTML

Access to Work: Qualitative research with applicants, employers and delivery staff

Ref: ISBN 978-1-78659-106-7, RR967

PDF, 327 KB, 57 pages

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Feasibility of evaluating the impact of the Access to Work programme

Ref: ISBN 978-1-78659-107-4, RR968

PDF, 412 KB, 42 pages

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Details

These reports present findings from research and analysis commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to:

• provide qualitative evidence on how Access to Work is currently working to support decisions on improvements to the programme
• explore how the department could progress a quantitative evaluation of the programme to capture its longer term impacts

Journeys to Access to Work

This report summarises applicants’ and employers’ journeys to Access to Work, their experiences of the application process and delivery of the scheme, perceptions of its impact and recommendations for improvement.

DWP commissioned the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to conduct a qualitative research study to better understand:

• how applicants and employers become aware of Access to Work
• what factors influence a person’s decision to apply
• how individual needs, circumstances and employer interactions shape their journey through the scheme

The research aims to strengthen understanding of experiences before, during and after application. This includes how Access to Work operates in addition to and beyond reasonable adjustments and other sources of workplace or external support.

View the Journeys to Access to Work research review.

Authors

National Centre for Social Research

Access to Work: Qualitative research with applicants, employers and delivery staff

Depth interviews were conducted with:

• applicants and their employers
• contracted providers of workplace assessments
• staff responsible for writing final reports and making decisions on recommendations and grants

The research looked at experiences of the application process and aimed to find out where and how Access to Work was making difference.

Authors

Lorna Adams, Angus Tindle, Christabel Downing, Leo Holker, Naomi Morrice and Manuel Domingos (IFF Research)

Feasibility of evaluating the impact of the Access to Work programme

This study considers whether a robust impact evaluation of Access to Work can be undertaken. It also makes recommendations for how best to proceed in developing and undertaking a technically difficult analytical cost benefit and impact assessment of Access to Work.

Authors

Karl Ashworth and Sergio Salis (National Centre for Social Research)

Related publications

Access to Work: statistics

Published 13 November 2018

Last updated 17 July 2026 — Show all updates

1. 17 July 2026

   Added 'Journeys to Access to Work' to the 'Details' section.

2. 13 November 2018

   First published.