Access to work for HR departments – British Sign Language Guide

Published: Monday 21 October 2024 | No Comments

Grouped under: For Professionals

This resource is kindly funded by Churchill Fellow

A video for HR departments to understand about Access to Work. This video includes information including:

-What is Access to Work?

-How does it work?

-Job interviews

-How you can support deaf and disabled employees

Knowing more about Access to Work and how to utilise it will help you benefit from a more diverse workforce. With this knowledge, you can encourage a wider range of job applicants, and support them throughout working with you.

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What is Access to Work?

Access to Work is a government scheme that helps support disabled people start and stay in work. It was set up to ensure that disabled people have the same access to work as non-disabled people.

It can provide practical and financial support, including paying for:

Specialist equipment and assistive software

Support workers, like a BSL interpreter, CSW or note takers

Costs of travelling to work, if you cannot use public transport

Physical changes to your workplace

Support can be provided where someone needs support or adaptations beyond reasonable adjustments.

The Access to Work scheme is managed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

What are the benefits?

Access to Work can help you:

Hire disabled people with the skills you need

Retain an employee who develops a disability or health condition. This means you keep their valuable skills and save time and money recruiting a replacement.

Show that you value and support your employees by having good employment practices

How does it work?

A disabled person is eligible for Access to Work if they are:

Over 16

In, or about to start, paid employment (including self-employed)

Live and work in England, Scotland and Wales (Northern Ireland has a different system)

There is also support available for communication support at interviews.

The disabled person can apply for Access to Work online, or via phone (including video relay service).

As an employer, you may have to share the cost with Access to Work. This is usually if the person has been working for you for more than 6 weeks when they apply for Access to Work.

You will only have to share the cost for:

special aids and equipment

adaptations to premises or equipment

You will contribute 100% of costs up to the threshold level and 20% of the costs between the threshold and £10,000. Any balance above £10,000 will normally be met by Access to Work.

See this table for threshold amounts. These are dependent on the number of employees in your company:

Number of employees	Amount of threshold
0 to 49 employees	nil
50 to 249 employees	£500
Over 250 employees	£1,000

Job interviews

Job applicants invited to interview can apply for communication support at their interview. For example, a deaf person who uses BSL could apply for the costs of a BSL interpreter. The applicant needs to apply a minimum of 2 working days before their interview. They can do this online, or via phone (including video relay service).

Bear in mind, not all disabled applicants may be aware of this service. Do proactively encourage all applicants to consider if they might need support for a disability, and to apply if so.

Alternatively, you could consider paying for the interview communication support directly. This would help make the process simple for the deaf applicant. It would also show that you are committed to supporting deaf employees.

How you can support deaf and disabled employees via Access to Work

Benefit from a more diverse workforce by utilising Access to Work. Hire disabled employees and encourage them to apply for Access to Work to support their needs. If you have an employee who has become disabled, use Access to Work to help support them stay in your employment.

Note that ATW paperwork is an extra burden for your disabled employees that their non-disabled colleagues don’t have. Consider allowing for ATW administration as part of your employees’ normal working hours. This means they are not unfairly disadvantaged.

We hope this was a useful resource to help you understand what Access to Work is and how your company can benefit. If you have deaf employees who might benefit from more information about Access to Work, do see our other videos on the subject: