Access to Work Programme: Staff
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many full-time equivalent staff are engaged in processing Access to Work claims; by what number has that changed in the last 12 months; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of staff numbers on the time scales in which applications under the Access to Work scheme are processed.
Answered by Sir Stephen Timms
As at 19 May 2026, there were 658 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff engaged in delivering the Access to Work scheme. This represents an increase of 32.29 FTE compared with 625.71 FTE staff at the end of May 2025.
The Department keeps staffing levels under review and recognises that resourcing levels can affect processing times. To address this, recruitment is underway to increase capacity, which will support the clearance of outstanding applications, and improve processing times.
Huge recruitment boost to tackle backlog in vital disability work scheme - GOV.UK.
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