Access to Work Scheme: Support for Disabled Employees

Access to Work: the help most small employers do not know exists

Picture this. An employee tells you they have a disability or health condition that is affecting their work. Your instinct is spot on: what do you need and how do I help? Often the answer involves the Access to Work scheme. And many small employers have never heard of it.

Here is the good news. You do not always have to fund every bit of support yourself. Access to Work is a UK government scheme that helps disabled people start or stay in work. It is under-used because lots of people do not know it exists.

This guide explains what Access to Work is, how it links with your legal duty to make reasonable adjustments, and how to support an employee through it without overstepping.

Hazel, our Chief Wellbeing Officer, is a strong advocate for an accessible workplace. By which she means a ramp to the good sofa.

Quick Answer Box

• Do this: support the employee to apply to Access to Work, and put your reasonable adjustments in place alongside it.
• Avoid this: assuming Access to Work replaces your legal duty, or waiting for a grant before you make simple changes.
• Write down: what adjustments were discussed, what was agreed, what was applied for, and what you put in place and when.

What is the Access to Work scheme?

Access to Work is a UK government scheme that provides practical and financial support to help disabled people, and people with a physical or mental health condition, get into work or stay in work.

The support is personal to the barriers someone faces. Depending on the situation, it can fund things like:

• specialist equipment or software, for example screen-reading software or an adapted chair
• a support worker, such as a job coach or a sign language interpreter
• travel-to-work costs where someone cannot use public transport because of their condition
• communication support for interviews
• mental health support through a dedicated support service

The exact scope and items covered change over time. The definitive list is always the official one: gov.uk guidance on Access to Work.

Key point. The support follows the person, not the job. That shapes how the process works.

Who applies, the employer or the employee?

I get this one a lot, so let us be clear. In most cases the employee applies. It is their scheme, their support, and the grant follows them.

You are not a bystander. Your role as the employer is to:

• make sure the person knows the scheme exists in the first place
• support and encourage their application
• provide any information the assessor needs from your side
• put the agreed workplace changes in place once support is approved

So the application is theirs, but the cooperation is yours. The smoothest outcomes happen when an employee feels backed rather than left to fight the system alone. Always check the current process on gov.uk, because applications do get updated.

How is Access to Work different from reasonable adjustments?

This is the big one, so I will not bury it.

Under the Equality Act 2010, you have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments for a disabled employee. Disability here means a physical or mental impairment with a substantial and long-term adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities. That duty is yours. It applies whether or not Access to Work is ever involved.

Access to Work is separate and sits alongside that duty. It can help fund support on top of what you are already obliged to do. It does not replace your responsibility to make reasonable adjustments, and you cannot point at the scheme as a reason not to act.

In plain English:

• Reasonable adjustments are something you must do, by law.
• Access to Work is extra help that can fund some of the support, often the more specialist or expensive parts.

The two work best together. You handle the everyday adjustments any decent employer would sort out. Access to Work can help with bigger-ticket or specialist items. For more on the broader duty around health and adjustments, see our guide to managing sickness absence in a small business.

Does the employer have to contribute?

Sometimes, but it depends. Please do not take a number off a blog and run with it.

As a general principle, larger and more established employers may be asked to contribute to some workplace adjustments. Smaller employers, newer employers, and certain types of support are often fully funded.

There is also an annual cap on the total award a person can receive, and that figure changes each year. For both reasons, I am not quoting numbers here. Check the current rules and limits on gov.uk before you make any assumptions about cost.

How do you support an employee's application?

Here is a simple, supportive step-by-step that keeps you on the right side of the line.

Step 1: Have the conversation

If an employee discloses a disability or health condition, talk about what they find difficult and what might help. Keep it open and non-judgemental. You are exploring barriers, not interrogating a diagnosis.

Step 2: Mention Access to Work

Plenty of people do not know the scheme exists. Point them to it. Send the gov.uk link and let them know you will support an application.

Step 3: Make the easy adjustments now

Do not let everything wait on a grant. If something is simple and reasonable, do it now. A different chair, a quieter spot, flexible start times. Waiting weeks for funding to provide what you could fix in an afternoon is not reasonable, and it is not kind.

Step 4: Cooperate with the assessment

Once the application is in, an assessment may follow. Provide what is asked of you from the employer side, promptly.

Step 5: Put the agreed support in place

When support is approved, implement it properly and check in to make sure it works. If it looks good on paper but does not help in practice, you adjust again.

A short example

A small marketing agency had a talented designer with a worsening sight condition. The owner worried they could not afford specialist software and kit, and quietly questioned if the role was still viable.

They had an honest conversation, pointed the designer to Access to Work, and supported the application. The grant funded the specialist software. The employer sorted the simple stuff straight away, an adjusted monitor setup and a flexible schedule for medical appointments. The designer stayed and kept producing excellent work. The barrier was real. It just was not as expensive to remove as the owner feared.

Common mistakes (and the fix)

• Mistake: assuming Access to Work removes your legal duty.

Fix: reasonable adjustments are still your responsibility under the Equality Act 2010. The scheme is extra, not instead.

• Mistake: never mentioning the scheme.

Fix: tell employees it exists. Many have never heard of it.

• Mistake: waiting for a grant before doing anything.

Fix: make the simple, reasonable adjustments now and let the scheme fund the bigger items.

• Mistake: treating disclosure as a problem to manage rather than a person to support.

Fix: lead with what would help. The relationship and the retention both benefit.

• Mistake: agreeing adjustments and never checking they work.

Fix: follow up. Confirm the support is actually helping.

• Mistake: quoting old grant figures or cost-share rules.

Fix: check the current position on gov.uk every time. The numbers move.

What to write down

For your own protection, and to show you acted properly, keep a record of:

• what the employee told you about the barriers they face
• what adjustments you discussed and agreed
• what was applied for through Access to Work, and when
• what you put in place yourself, and the dates
• any follow-up review and whether the support is working

Keep this confidential and stored securely, in line with your data protection obligations. Health information is sensitive, and how you handle it matters.

Bottom line

• Access to Work is a UK government scheme that helps disabled people, and people with a health condition, start or stay in work.
• The employee usually applies. Your job is to support them and put workplace changes in place.
• It is separate from, and additional to, your reasonable adjustments duty under the Equality Act 2010. It does not replace it.
• Contribution rules and grant caps depend on the item and your size, and change each year. Check gov.uk.
• Make the simple adjustments now rather than waiting on a grant.

Right, what do you do now?

Supporting a disabled employee well is about goodwill and getting the legal side right. The two are easier to get right together.

If you have an employee who has disclosed a disability or health condition and you are not sure where your duty starts and ends, our HR Advice Line gives you somewhere to ask before you act. Or take a free HR Health Check to see how your wider people processes stack up, then book a discovery call if you would like to talk it through.