When Support Fails to Support — Again

When Disability Watch UK published “When Support Fails to Support” earlier this year, we warned that the government’s flagship Access to Work (AtW) scheme — designed to help disabled people stay in employment — was quietly collapsing under its own bureaucracy.

Now, months later, a new BBC investigation (BBC News, October 2025) confirms what campaigners have been saying for years: that the system is failing, thousands are stranded without the help they’re entitled to, and the government’s response has been defensive at best, negligent at worst.

Mounting Delays and Mounting Anger

According to figures obtained by Disability Rights UK, more than 60,000 applications remain stuck in the AtW backlog — with average processing times now exceeding four months. Some self-employed claimants report waiting up to a year before receiving a single payment.

The BBC report highlights cases across the country where people have lost jobs, contracts, and health stability because their approved support either never arrived or was drastically cut. Employers who hired disabled workers with AtW funding have been left with unpaid invoices stretching into six figures. One specialist access company is reportedly owed nearly £200,000 by government.

“I’ve had to borrow from family to keep my business afloat,” one claimant told the BBC. “They say the support is there — but only on paper.”

Deaf and Disabled People Disproportionately Affected

A recent study by Deaf Together UK found that just 15 percent of deaf claimants described their AtW experience as positive. Many are forced to begin jobs without interpreters or communication support in place — effectively penalised for working.

The SignHealth charity echoed these findings, warning that cuts to interpreter hours are pushing deaf professionals out of employment altogether. “Access to Work is supposed to level the playing field,” their statement reads. “Instead, it’s creating new barriers.”

Political Promises vs. Lived Reality

The Department for Work and Pensions insists a “major review” of AtW is under way and that “improvements” are coming. But campaigners point out that reforms are being introduced before consultation or scrutiny — often quietly, through internal guidance.

Funding for “standard business items” such as ergonomic equipment and adaptive software has already been slashed, forcing claimants to fund essential tools themselves. Critics say these changes breach the Equality Act by removing reasonable adjustments that employers and the state are jointly responsible for providing.

As the BBC notes, ministers continue to defend the scheme as “a success story,” despite rising delays, reduced budgets, and growing public frustration.

A Crisis of Confidence

The government’s broader welfare overhaul — including reforms to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Universal Credit — has deepened anxiety. Unions warn that the cumulative effect of these changes could push tens of thousands of disabled people out of work, not into it.

“Britain cannot call itself a fair economy while it sabotages the very tools designed to help disabled people earn a living,” says Frances O’Grady, former TUC general secretary. “This is economic self-harm dressed up as reform.”

What Needs to Change — Now

Disability campaigners, business groups, and think tanks are united on what must happen next:

1. Fast-track emergency pathway for self-employed claimants facing business collapse.
2. Transparent reporting of processing times, approvals, and cuts — published monthly.
3. Freeze all reductions until the full review is completed and debated in Parliament.
4. Compensation scheme for those left unpaid or forced to borrow due to government delay.
5. True co-production — disabled entrepreneurs and experts at the table, not on the sidelines.
6. Independent oversight to audit decisions and prevent repeat failures.

Beyond Bureaucracy: The Cost of Neglect

The cost of inaction isn’t just personal — it’s economic. Studies show that excluding disabled people from the labour market costs the UK economy over £230 billion per year in lost productivity and welfare expenditure.

For a government that claims to want “everyone in work,” that’s a self-inflicted wound.

If AtW continues to deteriorate, it won’t just be disabled people who suffer — it will be Britain’s credibility as a fair, modern economy.

A Final Word

The BBC’s investigation has done what campaigners alone could not: it’s brought the crisis into public view. But exposure is only the first step.

As one Access to Work recipient told us: “We don’t need sympathy — we need the system to work.”

If ministers are serious about levelling up opportunity, that demand should be their starting point.

Sources

1. BBC News. “Disabled workers left without vital Access to Work support.” (October 2025).
2. Disability Watch UK. “When Support Fails to Support.” (2025).
3. Disability Rights UK. Access to Work Scheme Owes Businesses Thousands.
4. Deaf Together UK. Access to Work Survey Findings, 2025.
5. SignHealth. “Reform, Not Cuts.” Press release, July 2025.
6. Campaign for Disability Justice. Open Letter on AtW Reform.
7. UNISON. “Welfare reforms risk forcing disabled people out of work.” June 2025.