Devastating Cuts to DWP Access to Work Scheme
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is implementing stealth cuts to its Access to Work payments, leaving disabled claimants 'locked out' of their careers. Under the changes, some Access to Work grants have been slashed by 80 percent, according to reports by the Big Issue. Claimants have been left struggling to cope with the sudden reductions.
Personal Stories of Impact
Disabled actor Renu Arora told the Big Issue: 'With this cut in place, I’m locked out of my entire career. It feels like an iron gate has come down, and behind the iron gate is my career. I just can’t get to it.' Her support was cut from 45 hours per week to 20, with the hourly rate reduced from £30 to £17.50.
'I’m watching my peers worry about rehearsal schedules and their next commissions,' she said. 'And I’m staring down the barrel of: will I ever be on stage again?' She explained that human support cannot be replaced by machines: 'Human support and care cannot be outsourced by a machine. It just literally cannot be.' As a result, she is now housebound: 'I literally cannot get to work. It’s the isolation… It’s a profoundly lonely place to be.'
Stark Statistics on Reassessment Outcomes
Decode, a network supporting Disabled people in the arts, reports that 89.5 percent of reassessment cases they supported in 2024–25 resulted in lower awards, with an average reduction of 53 percent. Action on Disability found that support worker hours for their clients dropped 82 percent between 2022 and 2025, and job retention fell from 88 percent to 43 percent, with employers directly linking job losses to Access to Work cuts.
DWP Response
A DWP spokesperson told the Big Issue: 'Access to Work is a lifeline for disabled people and those with health conditions, helping them to start and stay in work, but demand for the scheme has grown significantly and the number of people supported has nearly doubled in five years. We know from employee and employer feedback that we inherited issues in the scheme, which is why we’re working with disabled people and their organisations to improve it.'
Broader Implications
These cuts come amid wider changes to DWP policies affecting disabled people. The reductions threaten to increase unemployment and isolation among disabled workers, who already face significant barriers in the labour market. Advocacy groups are calling for a reversal of the cuts and a more sustainable funding model to meet growing demand.
