Oct 24, 2025
3 min read
Many disabled workers are in danger of losing their jobs or businesses because of the long wait for government benefits.
"I've built a successful business thanks to Disability Allowance - but cutting it will destroy it."
Josh Wintersgill has been running a successful business selling products to help wheelchair users travel for six years, but his future is still in jeopardy.
He is using the Government's Access to Work scheme to help with some of the extra costs of running his business and fears he could lose it after his individual support was cut by 80%.
Insum's disability business (BDF) says businesses and their disabled employees are "setting up something impossible" despite the government's desire to include 80% of disabled people in the workforce.
See all aspects of the scheme in the Work and Pensions (DWP) section.
Because of his disability, Josh requires physical assistance with things most of the day.This includes travel, overnight stays, and packaging and shipping of customer orders.Without this support, he said he would not be able to run his company.
Under the access to work grant they were given a support worker five days a week, but this was reduced to one day in the review.
He said: "Basically they are with me all the time. They help me in every way to help my work and without them I can't do anything."
Josh picked up on the idea and hasn't had help since July, when his luck ran out, though he hasn't changed.
Under the Access to Work scheme, companies and employees can apply for grants to support disabled people in the workplace.
The program can reimburse employees and businesses for additional costs associated with being a disabled employee - things that go beyond what employers are required to provide by law.This covers a variety of things such as paying for taxis, assistive technology and English language interpreters.
People with disabilities say their benefits have been significantly cut, taken away entirely, and in some cases forced to close their businesses and turn down job offers.
Josh is now getting by using his own money to keep the business going, but says it's "very tight" and he'll only be able to do it for the next few months.
"I'm not doing as much as I used to," she says."There's so much to do that it's so hard to stay on top of it ... it's very frustrating."
Josh says access to work has helped him get into work and set up his own business, but fears what will happen if it is taken away.
"It's scary to think that I'm a disabled entrepreneur helping disabled people and maybe I'm going to be disqualified from doing it."
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"We have a system that makes it easier," he added.
The reach of the group's main work group was established because of the problems that people face when using or reusing money.Its founder, Dr.Shani Dhanda said that he has collected about 4,000 members since July.
The group recently sent an open letter to the prime minister urging him to take "urgent" steps to fix the "broken" scheme.
'The Destruction of Our Work'
The dinner race continues at Sea Change Cafe in Sunderland.The social enterprise employs 25 neurodiverse adults and uses access to work to support most of them.
Lexie O'Connor has been at the cafe since it opened in 2019. Among customers, she explains how working at the cafe gave her a sense of confidence and pride, and she now trains others to work with neurodiverse and disabled staff.
Lexie had 10 months to recover and when she did, she drastically reduced the hours of the support staff and the business suffered from the loss.
"Many employers in time, the body will not be able to manage the people who have work," he said.
Lexie said she saw many of her colleagues worried about their job prospects because of problems with work.CAFE said it had to let go of two employees because support was cut.
“We are very concerned about this and it will affect the quality of the work we worked so hard to get in the first place.
“I feel like places like Sea Change are doing their best, they're fighting for people like me.”
'Set default'
Accessibility to work has been widely cited by ministers as a key driver in attracting disabled people into work, but in an interview the Minister for Social Security and Disability, Sir Stephen Timms, said the problem was the “sheer number of people who want it”, saying they were struggling to “keep up with demand”.
Banking on the program will rise by 41% to £257.8m in 2023-24.
According to the DWP, as of February 2025, there were around 62,000 claims waiting to be processed and 33,000 people waiting for payment.
The government's consultation on access to work closed at the end of June with ministers currently reviewing the new approach.
Angela Matthews, director of studies and research on the BDF, called on the government to provide jobs to "work" more and stronger ".
He said: "Disabled people have failed, and employers and employees have access to people with disabilities, because employers and employees have failed.
BDF member Allianz UK said that despite the size of the insurance industry, it is not immune to the struggle for access to work.
Diana Salmon, the police's head of occupational health and safety, says the biggest problem is the long wait for it to be resolved.In some cases, people wait even longer than 10 months to start work.
"[Delays] can cause us to be unproductive... so we try our best but can't afford the high support costs," Diana said.
She referred to a recent example of a new recruit who left the company shortly after starting the role because it took almost a year to get specialist equipment so they could do the job fully.
"We want to provide an inclusive environment, but without timely access to work funding for colleagues with complex disabilities, they are potentially excluded," Diana said.
Diana used access to work at her previous job.The money pays for travel expenses that visit teams in different locations, which he can't afford, but he says he sees the value of the program.
"It would have been much more difficult for us to attract, hire and retain disabled workers [without the scheme]," he said.
In a statement the DWP said: “We have found that the Access to Work scheme is failing both workers and employers, which is why – as part of our benefits reform – we have consulted on how it could be improved.
“We will review all aspects of the scheme and develop future policy for disabled people and the organizations that represent them.
It added that "there is no change in access to employment law".
