Access to Work quick guide
This guide gives an overview of the Access to Work service provided by the Department for Work and Pensions and the centralised pathway at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) to implement their recommendations.
Access to Work supports staff with a disability, neurodiversity, illness or health condition, including mental health who are:
- in paid employment or self-employed
- about to start employment (applications are accepted 12 weeks before starting a role)
- in need of help at a job interview with an employer
- about to start a Work Trial
- about to start a Department for Education supported internship or traineeship
- about to start a self-arranged work experience or young person’s work experience
- serving an apprenticeship
Access to Work can support staff where their individual needs within the workplace are above and beyond the employer’s reasonable adjustments. For further details on reasonable adjustments please see the GOV.UK guide.
Access to Work recognises that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference. Barriers can be physical, or they can be caused by people’s attitudes to difference, like assuming disabled people can’t do certain activities within the workplace. This approach helps Access to Work recognise barriers that make life harder for disabled people. Removing these barriers creates equality and offers disabled people more independence, choice and control. In some cases, this may mean only slight adjustments to the working environment.
There are different elements of Access to Work, including:
- Communication Support at Interview
- Travel to Work, including Travel in Work
- Support Worker
- Adaptations to Premises and Equipment
- Special Aids and Equipment
To receive support through Access to Work, staff must:
- Be disabled, or have an illness or a health condition that impacts on
their ability to work - Be 16 or over (there’s no upper age limit for support as long as
employment is likely to continue) - Have the right to work in Great Britain
- Be living in Great Britain
Eligibility
Someone is disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial, negative effect on their ability to do normal daily activities. Staff whose disability, illness or health condition does not substantially affect their normal day to day activities but has a considerable adverse effect on their ability to do their job can also apply.
All staff are encouraged to share their disability status on ESR. This is confidential and no one in your team, including your line manager will see this information unless you choose to share it with them. Knowing about your disability can help us to ensure UHB has the right support in place for everyone. For more information about sharing your disability contact the Inclusion, Health and Wellbeing Team by emailing:
How to apply
Staff do not need a formal diagnosis to request support from Access to Work. Access to Work will not diagnose, but they will support any member of staff experiencing a difference or disadvantage at work because of a disability, long term health condition, mental health condition or neurodiversity, regardless of if this has been formally diagnosed of not.
A staff member must contact Access to Work directly. Line managers and other teams can direct staff to Access to Work, but can not make the initial referral on behalf of a member of staff, though they can support a member of staff to make the referral themselves. Contact details can be found on the Access to Work website.
We recommend that staff request the Inclusion Health and Wellbeing (IHW) Team be included and that staff request reports to also be sent to accesstowork@uhb.nhs.uk this will ensure adjustments are implemented as quickly as possible.
Applications are closed if there has been no contact with the applicant after three attempts, if a letter goes unanswered for ten days, or if an applicant wishes to end their application at any point. When direct information is requested from either a staff member or manager, this should be provided within 72 hours, or an application may be closed.
Assessments
Access to Work will need to assess how a member of staff’s condition affects the way they can or will do their job, which may include arranging an independent holistic workplace assessment. This will be with a specialist for an objective analysis of how the member of staff’s condition will affect their ability to do a job. This will either be carried out online or in person. Access to Work will not fund costs of diagnosis for conditions or disabilities.
Access to Work will then write all those named on the application including the employee, the manager, and the Inclusion, Health and Wellbeing team (if the email address for the IHW team has been included on the application), with the suggested alterations, adaptions, or equipment to enable the member of staff to carry out their role.
Employers have a legal responsibility to make adequate provision for disabled people present on their premises under legislation including:
- Building (Fourth Amendment) Regulations, 1985
- Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons (Amendment) Act, 1976
- Health and Safety Acts and other Regulations
- Equality Act 2010
- England and Wales – Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
The Access to Work assessment process must not be delayed where an employer has to act upon health and safety, workstation assessment or Equality Act 2010 responsibilities. Managers must consider the suggestions that Access to Work makes. Applicants cannot appeal against a level of reward, but for each award, an applicant is allowed one reconsideration by a different assessor. Reviews take place, at a minimum, annually.
Purchasing
Once a member of staff has received a report from Access to Work this should be sent to the Access to Work team as soon as possible, on the below email address:
The IHW Team will discuss the suggested adjustments with the member of staff. Once agreed the IHW Team will purchase the elements from a central budget. Physical items will be delivered to the member of staff’s area of work, software will be purchased and the member of staff will then need to raise a ticket with the IT service desk for installation, training will be purchased and the member of staff can arrange for this training to be completed at a convenient time.
Items with recurrent costs such as transport to and from work or support workers will need to be organised by the department directly.
Whilst the ordering and delivery process is underway the IHW Team will provide weekly updates to the member of staff and their line manager and can be contacted at any time to discuss progress.
Costs
The average cost of a reasonable adjustment suggested by Access to Work is under £70. Staff that apply to Access to Work within their first 6 weeks of working at the Trust will have all costs fully reimbursed by Access to Work and are more likely to have the adjustments that they require in place when they start in post. Applications made after 6 weeks will be reimbursed at roughly 80% of the cost. The IHW Team will organise and request any reimbursement that is due to the trust.
Access to Work will also consider paying grants of up to 100% of the cost of certain types of provision, including:
- The Mental Health Support Service
- Support workers
- Additional travel to and in work
- Communication support at interviews.
Access to Work process
The process starts with the individual making an online, telephone or postal application, where they will provide contact information, and answer general questions about their health condition and employment status for an initial eligibility review.
Rejection
- The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) may reject provision after considering the customer's eligibility and employer’s duty to make reasonable adjustments
- The customer would then be notified that their application has not been approved
Approval
- DWP approves provision (element and/or workplace assessment) after considering the customer’s eligibility and employer’s duty to make reasonable adjustments
- There will be an assessment to explore workplace-related barriers to employment and make recommendations on how these can be overcome
- In some, but not all cases, the outcome of an assessment can be the recommendation for provision of one or more elements
- If, after the assessment, no elements are approved, the customer will be notified
- If one or more elements are approved, the customer is notified and a grant is approved to cover all or some of the costs of the approved provision
- The customer or their employer commissions the approved provision and submits invoices relating to approved grants to the DWP
- Customer receives the approved and commissioned provision
- DWP pays the invoices relating to approved grants. In some cases a DWP payment is not required, for example because provision can be provided at no cost, or the employer covers the relevant costs
- DWP schedules reviews to ensure the provision is still adequate and to check that the customer is still eligible
Applicants cannot appeal against a level of reward, but for each award, an applicant is allowed one reconsideration by a different assessor. Reviews take place, at a minimum, annually.
Review
All staff can receive an annual review from Access to Work to assess if their needs have changed or if Access to Work can make any further recommendations for adjustments. We would recommend that all staff contact Access to Work to request this review every 12 months.
Further information
For information about UHB’s Disability or Long Term Health Condition Staff Network, Mental Health Staff Network or Neurodiversity Staff Network, or to speak to a member of the Inclusion and Health and Wellbeing team, please contact:
For information about UHB’s disability or long-term health condition staff network, please contact:
Full details of the access to work process can be found in GOV.UK's staff guide.
Further information on reasonable adjustments is also available on the NHS Employers website.