Why the collapse of Access to Work should alarm the social housing sector

What is Access to Work? It is a government programme that provides funding for workplace support, such as assistive technology, British Sign Language interpreters, transport or support workers. It’s designed to remove barriers for disabled people that go beyond an employer’s legal obligation for reasonable adjustments.

This isn’t a perk. It’s essential. For many, Access to Work is the difference between working and not. For some, it’s the only way to attend interviews, manage a job, or keep their business running.

But right now, the system is failing.

More than 62,000 people are stuck in a backlog waiting for a decision – some for over a year. Another 33,000 are waiting to be paid for support they’ve already used. Payments to suppliers are months late. Decisions are inconsistent and unclear. Some applicants are approved for partial support with no explanation. Others are left in limbo.

In the past year, members of our campaign have told us that they’ve lost jobs, had to turn down promotions, seen contracts withdrawn, or shut down their businesses entirely, all because Access to Work support didn’t arrive in time. These aren’t isolated cases. This is happening at scale.

So why should the social housing sector care? Because secure housing and meaningful employment are deeply connected. Without one, the other becomes harder to maintain. Disabled tenants are being pushed out of work due to Access to Work failures, and that leads to rent arrears, eviction risk, poor mental health and increased demand for housing support.

Many social landlords are also large employers. You may have disabled staff right now relying on Access to Work to do their jobs and are facing delays, cuts or uncertainty.

In our recent survey, 100% of employers said their disabled staff would struggle to do their job without Access to Work. Over 78% said it enabled them to hire disabled people in the first place, by covering the cost of adjustments. This isn’t just a disability issue, it’s a workforce one.

It comes at a time when the government is also proposing sweeping reforms to welfare, including changes to Personal Independence Payments and Universal Credit, with little clarity on how these will support people in, or moving into, work. It’s a perfect storm and it will hit disabled people and housing providers hard.

We cannot keep cutting off the very mechanisms that help disabled people contribute and thrive. The government claims it wants to reduce the disability employment gap, yet the only Treasury-funded programme that actually supports disabled people in work is being quietly dismantled by delay, dysfunction and disinvestment.

At the same time, ministers are pushing narratives about “fairness” in the benefits system, but what’s fair about forcing someone to give up work because the system that’s supposed to support them simply doesn’t function?

“The government claims it wants to reduce the disability employment gap, yet the only Treasury-funded programme that actually supports disabled people in work is being quietly dismantled by delay, dysfunction and disinvestment”

Without urgent intervention, this will lead to more disabled people losing jobs or never getting in, more reliance on welfare and housing support, and more poverty, hardship and avoidable distress.

Our #AccessToNowhere campaign launched last month on Channel 4 News and is backed by thousands of disabled people, employers and allies. We’re calling for:

• Urgent reform to make Access to Work fair, fast and reliable
• No further cuts and protection of the existing support
• Co-designed change, with disabled people shaping the future of the system

We’re urging MPs and peers to ensure the Access to Work award is properly referenced and protected in the Employment Rights Bill. So far, it’s completely absent. That omission could lead to further erosion of support by stealth, and must be addressed.

We need the housing sector to speak up. If your staff or tenants are affected, if your organisation believes in inclusive employment, or if you’ve seen the ripple effects of this crisis already, now is the time to get involved. Write to your MP, share our campaign with your networks and join our mailing list. Help amplify the voices of disabled people being pushed out of work, not by their health condition, but by a broken system.

Secure housing and secure employment go hand in hand. We can’t talk about inclusive communities without talking about both.

Shani Dhanda, co-founder, Access to Work Collective