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Business Disability Forum responds to increased Access to Work cap

1 April 2020

In this morning’s updated guidance for Access to Work staff, we read that that ceiling cap for 2020-2021 will be increased from £59,200 to £60,700 as of 1 April 2020.

Responding to this, Diane Lightfoot, CEO, Business Disability Forum has said:

“The Access to Work Scheme is a gamechanger for many disabled people, providing them with the support they need to make working possible. Any additional funding for the scheme is therefore to be welcomed. But, as we said in our response to the increase last year, we do not believe that setting a cap – even an increased one – is the most effective way to assess and offer support to the people who need it most.

“Research conducted by Business Disability Forum, in 2018, showed that many highly skilled disabled people are missing out on vital support, and the opportunity to work, simply because their support needs are assessed as being too expensive. This will still be the case, even with the cap increase.

“At the same time, we are aware that many others, are falling well below the cap.

“Therefore, it seems only sensible that caps are removed, and each person is assessed as an individual. Otherwise, the system could be viewed as discriminating against certain groups of disabled people – people whose conditions require them to have more costly support in place, in order to be able to work.

“We also call on government to update a former study of ROI for Access to Work that showed that it more than paid for itself in terms of savings on other benefits.

“The Government has set a target of supporting 1 million more disabled people into work by 2027. Access to Work can help achieve this, but it must be properly funded and available to all who need it.”

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