What does Access to Work pay for?

Access to Work pays for disability support beyond what the law requires: specialist equipment, support workers, job coaching, extra travel costs and a Mental Health Support Service — up to £69,260 a year (2026/27 cap).

What the grant funds

Access to Work is a government grant run by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). It goes to your disabled or neurodivergent employee, not to you, and it covers the practical support that helps them do their job. Per the GOV.UK guidance on what you'll get, that includes:

• specialist equipment and assistive software;
• support workers, such as a British Sign Language interpreter, a job coach or a travel buddy;
• the extra cost of travelling to work where your employee cannot use public transport, plus vehicle adaptations;
• changes to the workplace or a home-working setup; and
• a Mental Health Support Service, which gives an employee with a mental health condition a tailored plan covering things like flexible working, mentoring or a phased return.

What it will not pay for

Here is the line most results miss. Access to Work does not pay for reasonable adjustments: the changes you are already legally required to make so a disabled worker can do their job. That duty sits with you under the Equality Act 2010 (sections 20 and 21), and it is separate from any grant. Access to Work funds support that goes beyond those adjustments. So you cannot use it to cover a change the law says you must fund yourself, and you cannot point to the grant as a reason to delay an adjustment you owe.

The employer cost-share you should budget for

For an employee who has worked for you more than 6 weeks, the grant cost-shares special equipment and premises adaptations rather than paying in full. You pay 100% of approved costs up to a threshold set by your headcount, then 20% of costs between that threshold and £10,000; Access to Work refunds up to 80% across that band. The thresholds, per the employer factsheet, are:

• £0 if you employ 0 to 49 staff;
• £500 if you employ 50 to 249 staff;
• £1,000 if you employ 250 or more staff.

Support workers, travel and the Mental Health Support Service are not cost-shared in the same way. The overall ceiling on a single employee's grant is £69,260 for the year running 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. That same £69,260 cap has held since April 2024, but DWP can change it at any annual review, so confirm it against the customer factsheet before you plan a budget.

Why timing matters more than the cap

The grant is generous, but it is slow. The National Audit Office found DWP's average processing time rose from 28 days in 2020-21 to 66 days in 2024-25, peaking at 109 days in November 2025, with applications awaiting a decision trebling from 21,700 in March 2022 to 62,100 in March 2025. In practice that means your reasonable-adjustments duty often bites long before any grant money arrives, so plan to fund the immediate adjustments yourself and treat Access to Work as the layer on top.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.