The UK Government’s Access to Work scheme ensures that people with a disability or a health condition can receive the assistance they may need to help them to do their job.
If you feel that you could do your job easier if some changes were made in your working hours, conditions, equipment or transport possibilities, this scheme may be able to help you. To be eligible for assistance you must be over 16-years of age, and a paid employee living and working in England, Wales or Scotland. You can be self-employed, an apprentice, doing an internship, or on a work experience or trial, but you must not earn not more than £120 a week, work between one and 16-hours and your work coach must be in agreement.
If you are a paid employee, you can ask your employer to make reasonable adjustments, such as providing equipment or changing working hours to assist you in successfully executing your job. The Access to Work scheme can assist in assessing what adjustments need to be made and what the employer can reasonably be responsible for.
If the employer is unable to make all of the necessary changes, you may be entitled to a non-repayable grant under the Access to work scheme. This grant can be used to make adaptations to existing equipment or to buy suitable new equipment or software. To provide the assistance of a support worker or a job coach, which can include British Sign Language Interpreters, note takers, lip speakers or a video relay service. The grant can also cover adaptations to your vehicle or pay taxi fares to enable you to travel to work. It will cover the expenses incurred in transporting your specialised equipment to a different job location, and it can also fund disability awareness training for co-workers.
