Response to Minister's statement about Access to Work

On 12 March the Minister for Disabled People, Mark Harper, made a statement laying out the changes he is making to Access to Work. Our Access to Work special interest group responded in a letter.

Whilst we welcome your statement, we are disappointed you will not respond to the Work and Pensions Committee in full before the general election. Whilst you have clearly taken it on board, you have not addressed many of its recommendations.

We agree many of the changes you are making will improve Access to Work for deaf people, in particular the removal of the ’30 hour guidance’. We believe personal budgets will be transformative, providing people are given the right level of grant and the support they need to make it work for them. The sector will have a role in that and is happy to contribute.

We are also glad the service will become increasingly digital. And BSL users will be pleased to know they will soon be able to access it in their own language. We will appreciate confirmation that by ‘digital service’ you mean you will be working towards online accounts. They will make the administration of personal budgets easier for everyone.

We also welcome the fact you are now meeting service standards and would appreciate you sharing the KPIs and outcome data. We are still being told about invoices unpaid and grants not being awarded quickly, so it will be helpful to know what operational improvements have been made and how they are being measured. (more…)