People Management released an article on 8th August 2019 highlighting how more can be done to support employers to gain access to a pot of funding for those with disabilities in the work place.
The government spent a record £129.1m on Access to Work scheme grants to help disabled people in the workplace last year, official figures have shown.
The figure marks a record high, and is a real-terms £15m increase on the levels of annual spending on the scheme since 2010.
The funding has provided a record 36,240 individuals with grants to pay for workplace adjustments such as specialist equipment, travel to work or sign language interpreters.
Rachel Suff, senior policy adviser at the CIPD, said the increase in spending should be applauded, but there was still more to be done.
It’s encouraging that there has been an increase in the number of people helped by Access to Work, but there is still scope to improve its reach as there are many more people than 36,000 with a disability or health condition in work or who want to access work.
Suff added that while a majority of HR managers were aware of the Access to Work scheme, there was still a need for wider awareness among employers.
Last year, CIPD research showed that 60 per cent of people management professionals had heard of the scheme and a third had used the scheme; of the latter, nearly three-fifths had found it very helpful. Access to Work therefore has the potential to really help people with a disability or health condition access the changes they need at work.
For this to happen, there needs to be wider awareness of the scheme across employers.
Access to Work is a government-run scheme that provides grants of up to £57,000 a year to help address workplace barriers faced by disabled people and those with health conditions.
To read the full and original article visit People Management website.
