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Access to Work Scheme: Standards

Asked by James McMurdockIndependentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled Answered 9 June 2026UIN 4690

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Huge recruitment boost to tackle backlog in vital disability work scheme, published on 19 May 2026, what estimate he has made of the average waiting time for non-urgent Access to Work application decisions in (a) Essex and (b) the UK as of May 2026.

Answered by Sir Stephen Timms

The Department does not hold the information in a format that allows waiting times to be analysed by region.

Access to Work applications are managed through a national queue and processed in date order, meaning that a customer’s region does not determine waiting time.

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