Guidance

Access to Work statistics: background information and methodology

Updated 20 October 2022

Context of the statistics

This is the seventh publication in a series of official experimental statistics about Access to Work provision. These statistics are not comparable with the previously published Access to Work official statistics series which has now been withdrawn. For further details about this see the Access to Work statistical notice.

Access to Work is a publicly funded employment support programme that aims to help more disabled people start or stay in work. There are 2 main types of Access to Work provision: ‘Assessments’ and ‘Elements’. Assessments involve exploring workplace-related barriers to employment and making recommendations on how these can be overcome. Elements are intended to supplement the reasonable adjustments that employers are required to make under the Equality Act 2010 and are categorised as follows:

• communication support for interviews
• special aids and equipment
• adaptations to premises
• adaptations to vehicles
• travel to work (help with the costs of travelling to work)
• travel in work (help with the costs of work-related travel)
• support worker
• Mental Health Support Service (MHSS)
• miscellaneous

The key stages of a typical Access to Work customer journey are summarised here:

1. Application: The customer applies for Access to Work grant funding.

2. Approval/Rejection: DWP approves or rejects the application after considering the customer’s eligibility and their employer’s duty to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010: If a customer knows their support requirements, an award will be put in place. But if the customer does not know what support they need, they will be asked to undergo an holistic assessment to ascertain their support needs.

3. Decision: When a decision is made the customer is notified of the grant and the level of funding. The funding may cover some or all of the costs of the support needs.

4. Commissioning: The customer or their employer will use the grant funding to commission the approved provision and submits invoices relating to approved grants to DWP.

5. Receipt: The customer receives notification of the approved funding and payment.

6. Payment: DWP pays the invoices relating to approved grants. In some cases, a DWP payment is not required, for example because the provision can be provided at no cost or the employer covers the relevant costs.

7. Review: During the award period DWP will complete reviews to ensure the grant and level of funding continues to meet the customer’s support needs.

8. Renewal: At the end of their award period customers are invited to renewal their claim if necessary.

These statistics relate to the following parts of the Access to Work customer journey:

• the approval of Access to Work Assessments
• the approval of Access to Work Elements
• payments for Access to Work Assessments
• payments for Access to Work Elements

The main statistics reported are the number of people who had Access to Work provision approved, the number in receipt of payment and the amount spent on Access to Work support by DWP. Key policy, operational and legislative changes that may have affected these statistics over time are summarised in the following table. For more information on the approval of Access to Work provision see the Definitions and terminology within the statistics section.

Key policy, operational and legislative changes

Period	Change	Explanation
2010 to 2011	Change in guidance for Access to Work advisers	Guidance was changed to clarify the distinction between provision that can be approved by Access to Work and the reasonable adjustments that employers are required to make under the Equality Act 2010. This may have reduced the number of people who had Access to Work provision approved because reasonable adjustments may have been made by employers instead.
2011 to 2012	Introduction of the Mental Health Support Service	The Mental Health Support Service was introduced in December 2011, expanding the range of available Access to Work provision.
2015 to 2016	Administrative changes	Administrative changes introduced in October 2015 mean that the number of people who had Access to Work provision approved in 2016 to 2017 may be under-recorded. See Limitations of the statistics section for details.
2016 to 2017	Introduction of the Supporting Apprentices service	The Supporting Apprentices service was introduced in June 2016, expanding the range of available Access to Work provision.
2018 to 2019	Transitional Employer Support Grant (TESG)	TESG is a new element of Access to Work available to individuals employed within a Supported Businesses who previously delivered Protected Places under the Work Choice programme[footnote 1]. TESG payments from December 2018 have been excluded from this publication to avoid duplication with Work Choice statistics.
2020 to current	Hybrid Working	To support hybrid working, Access to Work introduced a more flexible offer to complement support provided by employers. The flexible offer provides a combination of support that can be tailored to meet the needs of the disabled person’s hybrid working arrangements. The offer includes support to work from more than one location, and a package of home working support which can be blended with workplace support.
2021 to current	Access to Work – flexible contractor and freelancer applications	To enable disabled contractors and freelancers to have greater flexibility to move between contracts, Access to Work has introduced a new flexible application. The flexible application provides greater flexibility for disabled people to take up and move between time limited contracts and freelance opportunities. The flexible application reduces the bureaucracy of having to re-apply for Access to Work every time a new period of employment begins and removes the need for holistic assessments where the needs remain the same.
2021 to current	Access to Work – Adjustments Passports	To support transitions into employment, Access to Work is supporting a series of tailored Adjustments Passports. The Adjustments Passport enables the holder to make informed career choices, by providing a transferable record of their adjustments, support and work requirements and highlights the support available from Access to Work. The Adjustments Passport can support the holder by, removing the need to repeat personal details about their disability and work requirements. It aligns to the Access to Work customer journey and can support the holder if they apply for Access to Work by removing the need for an assessment, enabling support to be put in place more quickly. The passport can support the job interview process by empowering the holder to have more confident and structured discussions about disability and adjustments with future employers. And for employers the passport can help highlight standard reasonable adjustments, and if further adjustments are needed the passport raises awareness of the support available from Access to Work.
2022 to 2023	Access to Work Plus Proof of Concept	We know some disabled people require extra support or a different type of support to work which is currently not available under the existing Access to Work scheme. To see if we can make a difference and help unlock more employment opportunities for disabled people, Access to Work is testing a new offer. Access to Work Plus provides enhanced personal support for disabled people who have high in-work support needs and complements this with support for employers who are willing to think differently about their vacancies. The new employer element acknowledges employers who are willing to adapt, shape or flex job roles to enable a disabled person to retain, return or move into employment. To test if Access to Work Plus can make a difference, phase 1 of the proof of concept was delivered between June 2022 and December 2022, and phase 2 commenced in June 2023.
2023 to current	Launch of the digital payment portal	Access to Work launched a new online claims journey in June 2023 allowing users to; claim Access to Work online, review previously submitted claims and view their grant amount. Individuals who wish to can still submit an application via the paper form.

Purpose

These statistics are used by various stakeholders within the Department for Work and Pensions and may be used to answer Parliamentary Questions and requests under the Freedom of Information Act. They are also intended for use by other interested parties in the public, private and voluntary sectors, and by members of the public.

Limitations

These statistics are subject to a number of limitations which are described separately below.

Access to Work was introduced in 1994. These statistics were primarily obtained from the Department for Work and Pensions’ Disability Service Client (DiSC) administrative system, the current iteration of which was introduced in April 2007. Records created prior to this are not deemed to be reliable and statistics derived from these records are not reported.

Due to the Access to Work digital transformation programme and the move to a new administrative system we cannot say how many people received a payment for Communication Support for Interviews in 2020 to 2021. Access to Work has continued to provide Communication Support for Interviews to individuals throughout this period. Data is available for 2021 to 2022, which shows 190 people received a payment for Communication Support for Interviews.

Comparisons

This is a new series of Access to Work experimental statistics. These statistics are not comparable with those historical Access to Work official statistics publications published prior to 2017. For further details see the Access to Work statistical notice about this.

When interpreting results, particularly comparing time periods, users should be aware of the potential effect of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic between 2020 and 2022.

Source

These statistics were obtained from the following sources:

• the Department for Work and Pensions’ Disability Service Client (DiSC) administrative system. DiSC data are input by Access to Work advisers and contact centre agents. DiSC is the primary source of information used in these statistics and covers the approval of assessments and elements and information on the number of people in receipt of payment and the amounts received
• the Single Operating Platform (SOP) is the payment system used for much of the Department’s business. SOP provides a more reliable measure of spend than DiSC. In theory, all payments recorded in DiSC should reconcile with the SOP system but this is not always the case. Although SOP provides more reliable summary data on spend, the data cannot be disaggregated to the same level of detail as that in DiSC. Therefore, we use expenditure data from DiSC to provide granularity, but reweight this data to match the total expenditure recorded through SOP. In most years, the difference between the two measures of expenditure is small (<5% difference). See weighting section for more information
• the Provider Referrals and Payments System (PRaP) is used for Access to Work Assessments from May 2017. Assessments prior to this date were captured in DiSC
• PRaP is used for payments for the Mental Health Support Service (MHSS) from August 2018. Payments for MHSS prior to this date were captured in DiSC
• the Access to Work Integrated System (ATWIS) is used for Communication Support for Interviews data from September 2020. Data held prior to September 2020 was captured on DISC
• the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deflator at market prices, published by HM Treasury^{[footnote 2]} is used to convert historic Access to Work expenditure into 2022 to 2023 prices

Definitions and terminology

The key definitions and terminology used within these statistics are explained in the following table.

Term	Definition
Access to Work	Access to Work is a publicly funded employment support programme.
Provision	There are two main types of Access to Work provision: Assessments and Elements (see below).
Assessment	Assessments involve exploring workplace-related barriers to employment and making recommendations on how these can be overcome. In some but not all cases the outcome of an Assessment can be to recommend the provision of one or more Elements. Not all applications can lead to an Assessment. If an individual has an Assessment and an Element, they may not be in the same financial year.
Element	Elements are intended to supplement the reasonable adjustments that employers are required to make under the Equality Act 2010. In some but not all cases an Assessment may be required to find out whether a customer is eligible to receive an Element. For more information on the types of Element that can be provided see the Context of the statistics section. Not all applications and Assessments lead to an Element being awarded. If an individual has an Assessment and an Element, they may not be in the same financial year.
Approval	The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) approves or rejects the Access to Work provision that a customer applies for after considering the customer’s eligibility and their employer’s statutory duty to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010. The customer is notified of the decision and a grant may be approved to cover some or all of the costs of the approved provision. A given item of Access to Work provision can only be approved once and in one financial year, however it may be received over several financial years. Approvals for ongoing provision (for example, travel to work or a support worker) are time limited. After the approval period has expired, the recipient may have to reapply for an item of provision. More than one item of provision of the same type or of different types can be approved for the same person in a given financial year or in different financial years.
Payment	Following approval of provision, we cannot observe directly whether or not that provision is received in all cases. This is because in some cases the provision approved will be paid for by the employer. Where DWP pays for part or all of the provision we have data on the financial transactions. We use this data to calculate statistics on the number of people in receipt of Access to Work payments in each year.
Expenditure	The expenditure data in these statistics covers DWP expenditure on Access to Work support. This covers payments directly to individuals and employers, as well as to assessment providers and the Mental Health Support Service. In some cases, the employer will be asked to contribute to the cost of provision under “cost share” arrangements. The employer element of expenditure is not included in these statistics. The expenditure data in these statistics does not include DWP’s staffing and operational costs relating to Access to Work.
Financial year	Statistics on approvals are provided for each financial year from 2007 to 2008 until 2020 to 2021. Statistics on the numbers in receipt of payment and expenditure data are shown for each year from 2009 to 2010 until 2021 to 2022. Financial years begin on 1 April and end on 31 March.
Real terms	Real terms expenditure (where actual spending has been adjusted to remove the effects of general price level changes (inflation) over time using price levels from a base year) has been calculated using the GDP deflators at market prices published by HM Treasury. Real terms figures provide a more meaningful measurement of change over time.
Age	Age is recorded at the point in the relevant financial year when the first.
Primary medical condition	Primary medical condition is recorded by Access to Work advisers and contact centre agents and is based on the first condition provided in customers’ applications. The recorded condition categories are: - arms or hands - legs or feet - back or neck - stomach, liver, kidney or digestion - heart, blood, blood pressure or circulation - chest or breathing - skin conditions and severe disfigurement - deaf or hard of hearing - difficulty in seeing - difficulty in speaking - learning disability - progressive illness - dyslexia - epilepsy - diabetes - mental health condition - cerebral palsy - spina bifida - other

Weighting

The most reliable source of data on Access to Work expenditure is SOP. However, SOP data cannot be disaggregated by customer characteristics. Nor can it be fully disaggregated by element type. DiSC data provides more granularity but in most years slightly understates total expenditure. The table below shows the percentage difference between the total Access to Work Expenditure as recorded by SOP total expenditure and DiSC total expenditure.

Year	Percentage difference
2009 to 2010	5%
2010 to 2011	5%
2011 to 2012	-2%
2012 to 2013	-1%
2013 to 2014	5%
2014 to 2015	0%
2015 to 2016	-2%
2016 to 2017	1%
2017 to 2018	0%
2018 to 2019	2%
2019 to 2020	1%
2020 to 2021	0%
2021 to 2022	4%
2022 to 2023	0%

Expenditure statistics on Assessments, Communication Support for Interviews and Mental Health Support Service in 2020/21 have been derived directly from SOP. The remaining expenditure statistics in this publication have been derived from DiSC to provide granularity, but have been reweighted so that total expenditure is consistent with the department’s accounts. The weighting calculation is straightforward:

£ya=£Dya∗£Dy/£Sy

Where ‘y’ refers to year, ‘a’ to a category of expenditure, ‘D’ to DiSC and ‘S’ to SOP. Thus £Dya is the amount of expenditure under category a for year ‘y’ reported in DiSC. £Dy and £Sy refer to total reported expenditure in year y reported in DiSC and SOP respectively. Note that this method assumes the extent of misreported spend in DiSC is consistent across all categories. We will keep our weighting method under review. However, given the differences between reported spend are relatively small between the two systems, the statistics reported are fairly insensitive to alternative weighting methods.

Revisions

The statistics in this publication were obtained from the Department for Work and Pensions’ Disability Service Client (DiSC) administrative system. DiSC is a live system and figures may be revised in future publications as customer details are amended and backdated records are added to the system. Where figures are revised this will be clearly indicated in the relevant publication.

Prior to the move to PRaP in May 2017, Access to Work Assessment data was recorded in DiSC. In 2022, Assessment data prior to May 2017 was archived, therefore there is no full financial year Assessment data available within the latest data prior to April 2018. This means that, from the 2022 to 2023 release of the Access to Work Official Statistics, all statistics relating to the period 2007 to 2018 are taken from the 2021 to 2022 published Access to Work Official Statistics.

The methodology to obtain Mental Health Support Service (MHSS) figures in this publication has been improved to address data inconsistencies in how approval dates are recorded in the DiSC administrative system and PRaP. Given PRaP is the timeliest data source, MHSS approval and payments data from 2022 to 2023 is obtained from PRaP only.

Rounding

Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 people and nearest £1,000. Figures that are less than 10 or £1,000 after rounding are suppressed. Percentages are calculated using figures prior to rounding and are rounded to the nearest integer. Totals may not sum due to rounding.

Status

Official Statistics in development

These statistics have been developed using guidelines set out by the UK Statistics Authority and are new official statistics undergoing development. They have therefore been designated as experimental statistics.

The Office for Statistics Regulation completed a compliance check in December 2017. The statistics last underwent a full assessment against the Code of Practice for Statistics in December 2014.

Since the latest review by the Office for Statistics Regulation, we have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics, which ensures our statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value, and have made the following improvements:

• added value by including statistics on other parts of the Access to Work customer journey in the number of people in receipt of payment for Access to Work provision (Tables 6 to 10)
• added value by including statistics on Access to Work expenditure (Tables 11 to 14)
• introduced further internal validation against DWP finance data to improve consistency and quality of the statistics

We plan to publish these statistics on an annual basis and will explore the feasibility of expanding their scope to cover other parts of the Access to Work customer journey such as applications to Access to Work. Users are invited to comment on the development and relevance of these statistics at this stage and can send feedback to: access.toworkstatistics@dwp.gov.uk

Quality statement

These statistics were obtained from the Department for Work and Pensions’ Disability Service Client (DiSC) administrative system. DiSC data are input by Access to Work advisers and contact centre agents and are subject to various quality-assurance processes. Once a DiSC record has been created an Access to Work advisor subsequently contacts the relevant customer and verifies that the information recorded is accurate. The information is also verified during customer reviews (see the Context of the statistics section). In February 2015 a Quality Assurance Framework was introduced to further help ensure that DiSC data are input accurately.

The Provider Referrals and Payments System (PRaP) is a well-established system used by DWP. Access to Work advisers monitor the quality of reports submitted by providers, and will reject reports deemed not to meet the specified standard. Read more information about the PRaP system. For additional quality assurance purposes, we cross-reference PRaP with DiSC data.

A standard set of quality assurance procedures are conducted for each DWP statistical release. They consist of checking for duplicate, missing or contradictory information, trends and variation in characteristics, time series and area breakdowns.

Data is quality assured by DWP analysts.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing: regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Feedback

We welcome feedback

You can provide feedback on these statistics by emailing: access.toworkstatistics@dwp.gov.uk

Useful links

Read the Access to Work statistical release and accompanying data tables.

Find more information about Access to Work and how to apply.

Read the guidance on Access to Work for employers.

Find more information about the Supporting Apprentices service.

Find more information about experimental statistics.

1. Work Choice provider memos: 2017 and after. ↩

2. GDP deflators at market prices, and money GDP June 2023 (Quarterly National Accounts). ↩