Official Statistics

Access to Work statistics: April 2007 to March 2025

Published 14 October 2025

1. Main stories

The key points from this release covering Access to Work in financial year ending March 2025 are:

• Access to Work provision was approved for 61,670 people
• an Access to Work payment was made for 74,190 customers
• total expenditure on Access to Work provision was £320.7 million
• the average annual payment received per customer across all provision was £4,000

2. What you need to know

Types of provision

Access to Work is a publicly funded employment support programme that aims to help more disabled people start or stay in work. There are two main types of Access to Work provision:

• ‘Assessments’
• ‘Elements’

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 may be to recommend the provision of one or more Elements.

Elements are intended to supplement the reasonable adjustments that employers are required to make under the Equality Act 2010. The types of Element that can be provided 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)
• Transitional Employer Support Grant (TESG)
• Access to Work Plus (AtW+)
• Miscellaneous

Access to Work Plus (AtW+) 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 AtW+ pilot was delivered between June 2022 and March 2024, an evaluation of the Access to Work Plus pilot was published in July 2025.

In some but not all cases an Assessment is required to find out whether a person is eligible to receive an Element.

Assessments and the Mental Health Support Service are delivered through contracted external providers and are therefore excluded from the non-contracted provision statistics.

Data sources

These statistics were obtained from the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP’s) Disability Service Client (DiSC) administrative system; the DWP’s Single Operating Platform (SOP) payment system; the DWP’s Provider Referrals and Payments System (PRaP) and the Access to Work Integrated Service (AtWIS). DiSC is a live system and figures may be revised in future publications as records are amended or added to the system.

Rounding

Figures contained within this release are subject to rounding so totals may not sum exactly.

Effects of the pandemic

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.

More information about data sources and revisions to these statistics, rounding and further methodological detail can be found in the accompanying Background information and methodology.

3. Approvals

This section looks at the number of people who received an approval for Access to Work support. It should be noted that an approval for Access to Work does not necessarily result in a payment for Access to Work, as an individual’s employer may pay for the support in full, or the individual may choose not to take up the support.

Number of approvals over time

In financial year ending March 2025, Access to Work provision was approved for 61,670 people.

Number of people who had provision of each type approved between financial years ending March 2010 and March 2025

Due to data archiving processes, total approval volumes for Non-contracted Provision are not available for financial year ending March 2020 and earlier. For further information, please refer to the Background information and methodology.

The key points are:

• the number of people who had any Access to Work provision approved decreased for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic from 68,730 people in financial year ending March 2024 to 61,670 people in financial year ending March 2025; this was a 10% decrease
• similarly, the number of people who had any Access to Work Element approved decreased from 67,130 people in financial year ending March 2024 to 60,430 people in financial year ending March 2025, also a 10% decrease
• the number of people who had any Non-contracted Provision approved was 49,680 people in financial year ending March 2025, an 11% decrease compared to the previous year
• after a decrease in financial year ending March 2024 to 16,730, the number of people who had an Assessment approved has increased by 13% in financial year ending March 2025 to 18,870 people

Number of people approved by Element Type between financial years ending March 2010 and March 2025

The key points are:

• Support Worker remained the most common Element that was approved in financial year ending March 2025 with 32,370 people (54% of the people who had Any Element approved) having one or more Support Worker Elements approved in the same period
• the next most frequently approved Element types were:
  • Special Aids and Equipment (22,900 people, 38% of people who had Any Element approved)
  • Mental Health Support Service (13,540 people, 22% of people who had Any Element approved)
  • Travel to Work (10,290 people, 17% of people who had Any Element approved)
• after increasing for several years, all four of the most commonly approved Elements have seen a decrease in approvals in financial year ending March 2025 compared to the previous year:
  • Special Aids and Equipment approvals decreased by 16%
  • Travel to Work approvals decreased by 14%
  • Mental Health Support Service approvals decreased by 7%
  • Support Worker approvals decreased by 1%

Number of people who had any Support Worker of each type approved between financial years ending March 2021 and March 2025

The key points are:

• the most commonly approved Support Worker type in financial year ending March 2025 was Job Coach, with 3,770 people being approved or 12% of people approved for a Support Worker
• the next most frequently approved Support Worker types were:
  • Job Aide (3,740 people, 12% of people who received a Support Worker approval)
  • BSL Interpreter (1,830 people, 6% of people who received a Support Worker approval)
  • Communication (910 people, 3% of people who received a Support Worker approval)
  • Driver (320 people, 1% of people who received a Support Worker approval)
• despite a decrease in overall Support Worker approvals, there have been increases in approvals for three of the five most commonly approved Support Worker types:
  • Driver approvals increased by 14%
  • Job Aide approvals increased by 4%
  • Communication approvals increased by 2%
• 23,850 of the people who received a Support Worker approval in financial year ending March 2025 were approved for a Support Worker categorised as ‘Other’, accounting for 74% of the total

For further statistics on Access to Work approval volumes including breakdowns by age, gender, primary medical condition, region, employer size and employment status, please refer to data tables APR01 to APR04 in the accompanying spreadsheet.

4. Payments

This section looks at the number of customers who received a payment for Access to Work support and the characteristics of those people.

Number of payments over time

In financial year ending March 2025, 74,190 customers received a payment for any Access to Work provision.

Number of customers who received a payment for provision of each type between financial years ending March 2009 and March 2025

Due to data archiving processes, total payment volumes for Non-contracted Provision are not available for financial year ending March 2020 and earlier. For further information, please refer to the Background information and methodology.

The key points are:

• the number of customers receiving a payment for any Access to Work provision continued to rise, increasing from 67,240 in financial year ending March 2024 to 74,190 in financial year ending March 2025, this was a 10% increase
• the number of customers in receipt of a payment for Any Element increased by 8% in financial year ending March 2025 to 60,480
• the number of customers in receipt of a payment for Non-contracted Provision increased by 6% to 39,670
• following a decrease in the previous year, the number of customers who received a payment for an Assessment has increased by 18% in financial year ending March 2025 to 19,720

Number of customers who received a payment by Element Type between financial years ending March 2010 and March 2025

Please note there has been a methodology change affecting how customers in receipt of MHSS payments are counted from financial year ending March 2021 onwards, for more detail refer to the Background information and methodology.

The key points are:

• in financial year ending March 2025, the Mental Health Support Service (MHSS) was the most common Element amongst customers who received a payment having increased by 11% compared with the previous year to 22,240
• Support Worker had the second highest number of customers who received a payment, increasing from 17,760 in financial year ending March 2024 to 20,130 in financial year ending March 2025, a 13% increase
• Travel to Work had the third highest number of customers who received a payment having increased from 13,360 in financial year ending March 2024 to 14,540 in financial year ending March 2025, a 9% increase
• the fourth most common Element amongst customers who received a payment was Special Aids and Equipment which decreased by 11% from 9,910 in financial year ending March 2024 to 8,780 in financial year ending March 2025 following a large increase in the previous year

Number of customers who received a payment by Support Worker Type between financial years ending March 2021 and March 2025

The key points are:

• in financial year ending March 2025, the number of customers who received a payment for Job Aide increased by 50% to 5,370 making Job Aide the most common Support Worker type amongst customers who received a Support Worker payment, 27% of the total
• the next most common Support Worker types amongst customers who received a payment were:
  • Job Coach which decreased by 7% to 3,690 or 18% of customers that received a Support Worker payment
  • BSL Interpreter which increased by 1% to 3,210 or 16% of customers that received a Support Worker payment
  • Communication which increased by 17% to 1,460 or 7% of customers that received a Support Worker payment
  • Driver which increased by 13% to 430 or 2% of customers that received a Support Worker payment
• in financial year ending March 2025, the number of people receiving payment for a Support Worker that was categorised as ‘Other’ increased by 20% to 9,120 or 45% of customers who had a Support Worker payment

Characteristics of customers in financial year ending March 2025

Percentage of customers in receipt of a payment for Any Element in financial year ending March 2025, by primary medical condition

The key points are:

• the largest Access to Work customer group in receipt of payment for Any Element, by primary medical condition, are those with a ‘Mental Health condition’ who account for 22,820 customers or 38% of all Element recipients
• the next largest customer groups in receipt of payment for Any Element in terms of primary medical condition are:
  • Learning disability (6,420 customers or 11% of Element recipients)
  • Deaf or hard of hearing (4,980 customers or 8% of Element recipients)
  • Difficulty in seeing (3,820 customers or 6% of Element recipients)
  • 10,890 customers, or 18% of Element recipients, had their primary medical condition categorised as ‘Other’, this may include customers with neurodiverse conditions such as Autism and ADHD

Percentage of customers in receipt of a payment for Any Element in financial year ending March 2025, by age

The key points are:

• the largest Access to Work customer group in receipt of payment for Any Element, by age, are those aged 30 to 34, however the age distribution is broadly uniform across age bands 18 to 54
• people of all eligible ages are in receipt of payment for Access to Work support

Percentage of customers in receipt of a payment for Any Element in financial year ending March 2025, by employment status

The key points are:

• the largest Access to Work customer group in receipt of payment for Any Element by employment status are those who are ‘Employed’ accounting for 45,080 customers or 75% of all Element recipients
• the next largest customer groups in receipt of payment for Any Element in terms of employment status are:
• Self-employed (7,080 customers or 12% of Element recipients)
• Unemployed (5,400 customers or 9% of Element recipients), this may include interns, temporary workers, people waiting to start a job and people who started their job within the last 6 weeks
• Supported Internship (2,630 customers or 4% of Element recipients)

Percentage of customers in receipt of a payment for Any Element in financial year ending March 2025, by employer size

The key points are:

• the largest Access to Work customer group in receipt of payment for Any Element by employer size are those employed by a ‘Large’ employer accounting for 35,570 customers or 59% of all Element recipients
• the next largest Access to Work customer group in receipt of payment for Any Element by employer size are those with a ‘Small’ employer accounting for 20,240 customers or 33% of all Element recipients
• Access to Work customers employed by ‘Medium’ employers account for 4,670 customers or 8% of all Element recipients

For further statistics on Access to Work payment volumes, please refer to data tables PAY01 to PAY04 in the accompanying spreadsheet.

5. Expenditure

This section looks at Access to Work expenditure. 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 also does not include DWP’s staffing and operational costs relating to Access to Work.

Expenditure over time

Expenditure on Access to Work was £320.7 million in financial year ending March 2025.

Nominal expenditure between financial years ending March 2010 and March 2025

The key points are:

• nominal expenditure is the amount reflected on financial balance sheets, changes in nominal expenditure will be in part due to general inflation
• total nominal expenditure on Access to Work provision increased by 22% to £320.7 million in financial year ending March 2025
• £318.2 million or 99% of this was expenditure on Elements. The remaining £2.5 million was on Assessments, accounting for around 1% of total expenditure
• £306.3 million was expenditure on Non-contracted provision. A forecast for expenditure on Non-contracted provision is published in DWP’s Benefit expenditure and caseload tables. The remaining £14.3 million was on contracted provision (Assessments and the Mental Health Support Service)

Real terms expenditure between financial years ending March 2010 and March 2025

The key points are:

• real terms expenditure removes the effect of inflation to make year-on-year comparisons more informative, figures are quoted in financial year ending March 2025 prices
• in financial year ending March 2025, real terms expenditure on Any Provision increased by 17% compared to the previous year
• expenditure on Any Element increased by 18% in real terms to £318.2 million
• expenditure on Non-contracted Provision increased by 18% in real terms to £306.3 million
• expenditure on Any Assessment decreased by 9% in real terms to £2.5 million

Real terms expenditure by Element Type between financial years ending March 2010 and March 2025

The key points are:

• in financial year ending March 2025, the largest Element in terms of expenditure was Support Worker which accounted for 71% of total expenditure having increased by 23% in real terms to £226.9 million
• the next largest Elements in terms of expenditure were:
• Travel to Work which accounted for 17% of total expenditure having increased by 19% in real terms to £53.3 million
• Special Aids and Equipment which accounted for 6% of total expenditure having decreased by 15% in real terms to £18.9 million
• the Mental Health Support Service (MHSS) which accounted for 4% of total expenditure having increased by 3% in real terms to £11.9 million

Expenditure by customer characteristics

Percentage of expenditure for Any Element in financial year ending March 2025, by primary medical condition

The key points are:

• the customer group which accounted for the largest proportion of total Element expenditure in financial year ending March 2025, by primary medical condition, were those who are ‘Deaf or hard of hearing’ at 28% or £90.3 million
• the customer group which accounted for the second largest proportion of total Element expenditure in financial year ending March 2025, by primary medical condition, were those with a ‘Mental health condition’ at 12% or £38.3 million
• the customer group who accounted for the third largest proportion of total Element expenditure in financial year ending March 2025, by primary medical condition, were those with ‘Difficulty in seeing’ at 12% or £38.2 million
• 18% of total Element expenditure in financial year ending March 2025 was for customers with a primary medical condition recorded in the ‘Other’ category, this may include customers with neurodiverse conditions such as Autism and ADHD

For further statistics on Access to Work expenditure, please refer to data tables EXP01 to EXP04 in the accompanying spreadsheet.

6. Average Payment Amounts

This section looks at the average annual payment received per customer in each financial year from Access to Work. Average annual payment is calculated by dividing expenditure for the relevant group by the number of customers who received a payment. Note that this is not the same as average awarded amounts and may not be representative of the payments received across a customer’s award period.

Average payment amounts over time

Real terms average annual payment amount per customer between financial years ending March 2010 and March 2025

Due to data archiving processes, average payment amounts for Non-contracted Provision are not available for financial year ending March 2020 and earlier. For further information, please refer to the Background information and methodology.

The key points are:

• real terms expenditure removes the effect of inflation to make year-on-year comparisons more informative, figures are quoted in financial year ending March 2025 prices
• in financial year ending March 2025, the average annual payment per customer for Any Provision was £4,000, a 2% decrease in real terms compared to the previous year
• the average annual payment per customer for Any Element increased by 2% in real terms to £4,900, this figure excludes payments for Assessments
• the average annual payment per customer for Non-contracted Provision increased by 4% to £7,200. Non-contracted provision excludes payments for AtW Assessments and the Mental Health Support Service which are delivered through contracted external providers
• after removing the effect of inflation and discounting years impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, average annual payment amounts per customer for Any Provision have remained relatively stable over time. Average payment amounts for Any Element continue to remain below pre-pandemic levels

Average annual payment amount per customer in financial year ending March 2025, by Element Type

The key points are:

• the Access to Work customer group in receipt of the highest average annual payment amount, by Element type, are those in receipt of payment for a Support Worker, with average annual Element payments of £10,500 per customer in financial year ending March 2025
• the customer groups with the next highest average annual Element payments in financial year ending March 2025, by Element type were:
  • Adaptation to Premises (£10,100)
  • Transitional Employer Support Grant (£4,300)
  • Access to Work Plus (£4,200)
  • Travel to Work (£3,400)

Average payment amounts by customer characteristics

Average annual payment amount per customer for Any Element in financial year ending March 2025, by primary medical condition

The key points are:

• the Access to Work customer group in receipt of the highest average payment amount, by primary medical condition, are those who are ‘Deaf or hard of hearing’ with average annual Element payments of £16,900 per customer in financial year ending March 2025
• the customer groups with the next highest average annual Element payments in financial year ending March 2025 by primary medical condition are:
  • Difficulty in seeing (£9,300)
  • Cerebral Palsy (£8,000)
  • Difficulty in speaking (£6,400)
• the customer group in receipt of the lowest average payment amount, by primary medical condition, are those with a ‘Mental health condition’ with average annual Element payments of £1,600 per customer in financial year ending March 2025

For further statistics on Access to Work average annual payment amounts, please refer to data tables AVG01 to AVG04 in the accompanying spreadsheet.

7. About these statistics

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 statistics in development.

It is planned for these statistics to be published on an annual basis and the feasibility of expanding their scope to cover other parts of the Access to Work customer journey, such as applications to Access to Work, will be explored. 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

Pre-release access

In addition to staff who are responsible for the production and quality assurance of the statistics, up to 24-hour pre-release access is provided to Ministers and other officials. Job titles and organisations of the people who have been granted up to 24-hour pre-release access to the latest Access to Work statistics is published.

Where to find out more

More information about these statistics can be found in the Background information and methodology note and the Data tables that accompany each release.

Learn about upcoming developments to these statistics in the Access to Work release strategy.

Read more information about Access to Work.

Guidance on Access to Work for employers.

More information about statistics in development.

Contact details

For queries or feedback on this publication, please contact: access.toworkstatistics@dwp.gov.uk

For media queries, please contact the DWP Press Office.

Author: Sophie Wilkinson

ISBN: 978-1-78659-885-1

Next release

This publication is annual and the next release will be published in September or October 2026.