Access to Work: a guide for employees and employers

Access to Work in brief

Access to Work is run by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for people who live and work in England, Scotland or Wales. Through it a person can apply for three kinds of help: a grant towards practical support with their work, support with managing their mental health at work, and money for communication support at a job interview.

A grant does not affect any other benefits and is not paid back. Access to Work does not supply the support itself: it reimburses the agreed cost, so the person or their employer buys what has been approved and claims the money back.

It sits on top of what an employer must do anyway. Access to Work will not pay for reasonable adjustments, the changes an employer is legally required to make, and it will tell the employer when a change should be made as one.

Who can apply

To apply for the grant or for mental health support, a person must:

• have a physical or mental health condition or disability that means they need support to do their job or to get to and from work;
• be 16 or over;
• be in paid work, or about to start or return to paid work in the next 12 weeks;
• live and work in England, Scotland or Wales (Northern Ireland has its own scheme).

No diagnosis is needed. gov.uk's examples of conditions include ADHD, dyslexia, autism, a learning disability, a mental health condition such as anxiety or depression, an illness such as diabetes or epilepsy, and a temporary condition such as a broken leg.

Paid work can be full or part time, and includes employment, self-employment, an apprenticeship, a work trial or work experience, an internship and a work placement, at the workplace or from home. Voluntary work is not covered.

Most benefits can be claimed at the same time, as long as the person works more than 1 hour a week, and an employee can get support whatever they earn or have in savings. Someone on Employment and Support Allowance can get both if they work less than 16 hours a week.

Civil servants cannot apply: their employer provides the support instead. Nor can people who live in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. Self-employed people have a turnover test, set out below.

The support Access to Work pays for

There is no set amount for a grant: it depends on what the person needs to do their job. gov.uk lists support such as:

• specialist equipment and assistive software;
• support workers, such as a BSL interpreter, a job coach, a note taker or a travel buddy;
• the cost of travelling to work when the person cannot use public transport;
• adaptations to a vehicle, and physical changes to the workplace, which can include the home;
• disability awareness training for colleagues;
• moving equipment when the person changes location or job.

In the year to March 2025, Access to Work approved support for 56,000 people, and the average annual payment per person was £4,000 (DWP statistics).

Mental Health Support Service

A separate service offers a tailored plan to help the person get or stay in work and one-to-one sessions with a mental health professional, for up to 9 months, at no cost to the person or their employer. It is applied for directly through one of two providers, Able Futures or Maximus, and can be used only once.

Communication support at job interviews

Access to Work can pay for a BSL interpreter or lipspeaker, or for other communication support, at a job interview. The application must be made before the interview, and the cost is paid after it.

Costs Access to Work does not cover

• Reasonable adjustments, which are the employer's legal duty. gov.uk's examples include changing equipment, such as a special keyboard for someone with arthritis. Our guide to reasonable adjustments for ADHD at work has examples by need.
• Standard equipment and standard business costs that the job would need anyway.
• Medical aids, and diagnosis of a condition.
• Overtime.
• Business start-up costs, for the self-employed.
• Anything bought before the application is made and agreed.

Buy nothing before the decision letter. DWP's staff guide says that costs paid before a new application is made and agreed will not be met by Access to Work.

Support for memory, organisation and note-taking

Not every need at work is physical. Many people describe needs around information: following and remembering what was said in a meeting, keeping track of tasks and deadlines, and finding notes and documents again later. People with ADHD, a brain injury, a stroke, long Covid or multiple sclerosis often describe them.

The support gov.uk names can meet these needs: assistive software and equipment, and support workers such as a note taker. Where the person is not sure what would help, a workplace assessor can look at the job and recommend support.

Where Recallify fits

Recallify AT is a single-user licence for the Recallify platform. It records and transcribes meetings and conversations, turns them into summaries and tasks with deadlines, and sends reminders, on the web, iPhone and Android. An Access to Work assessment can recommend it, and an employer can buy it with or without a grant. Licences cost from £130 (Core, one year) to £840 (Guided, five years), with no VAT added; the full list is on Recallify AT pricing.

Access to Work decides each award and pays towards the most cost-effective option that meets the need, so the assessment and the case manager decide whether a particular product is funded. Assessors can request a demo account and the product information an assessment needs; employers and people with an award can request a written quote. More on applying for Access to Work with memory problems, assistive technology for ADHD and a workplace case study.

The employer's share of the cost

An employer may have to share the cost of special aids, equipment and adaptations when the person has been working for them for more than 6 weeks when they apply. This is the cost share.

When it applies, the employer pays all of the cost up to a threshold set by the size of the business, then 20% of the cost between the threshold and £10,000. Access to Work refunds up to 80% of that band, and normally pays any balance above £10,000.

Staff are counted at sites in Great Britain; volunteers do not count and hours do not matter. The employer factsheet's top band reads "over 250"; the staff guide puts 250 itself in the large band.

When there is no cost share

Access to Work will consider paying up to 100% of the approved cost for:

• self-employed people;
• people who have been in the job less than 6 weeks when they first apply;
• someone who moves to a new employer, or to a new role in the same company, and applies within the first 6 weeks of starting it;
• support workers, travel to work and travel in work;
• the Mental Health Support Service, and communication support at interviews.

Rules that change the bill

• The thresholds include VAT.
• The cost share is worked out over a 3-year period: what the employer has already paid in that period is counted in a later application, and the period starts again when it ends.
• For medium and large employers, the case manager can waive the cost share under the Tech Fund when assistive technology supplements or replaces human support, such as a support worker, and could cost less over the 3 years.
• If the support also gives the business a general benefit, a further contribution can be asked for.
• If the person or employer chooses something more expensive than the most cost-effective option that meets the need, they pay the difference.