DWP's Access to Work roadmap: 66,000 cases and one deadline

The Department for Work and Pensions owes Parliament a written roadmap this month. MPs set the deadline after finding Access to Work badly broken (Public Accounts Committee, "The Access to Work scheme", 12 June 2026). Access to Work funds the reading pens, dictation software, and workplace support many dyslexic employees rely on.

What MPs actually ordered DWP to do

The Committee's report was blunt. It told DWP to go back to the people who use Access to Work. Find out what's failing beyond the delays, then report back with a plan.

That plan has to include firm milestones. It also needs a clear service standard, so users know what to expect (Public Accounts Committee, 12 June 2026). The Committee gave DWP until September 2026, roughly three months from publication.

MPs weren't just chasing speed. They also wanted DWP to look at failings beyond wait times, like poor communication and confusing guidance (Public Accounts Committee, 12 June 2026).

DWP gave oral evidence to the Committee on 12 March 2026, three months before the report published (Public Accounts Committee, oral evidence, 12 March 2026). Its stated fix remains the one used throughout 2026: hire more caseworkers and clear the backlog by September 2027.

We checked committees.parliament.uk and gov.uk on 13 and 14 September 2026. Neither site shows a published roadmap yet. If one lands after this goes live, the backlog below hasn't moved.

If you're waiting on a claim, don't expect this roadmap to speed things up this month. Plan around the wait times below, not the promise of a fix.

The numbers behind the delay

About 66,000 Access to Work applications were still waiting for a decision in March 2026. Four years earlier, in March 2022, that figure was 21,700 (Public Accounts Committee, 12 June 2026).

Demand explains part of the backlog. Applications rose from 76,000 in 2018-19 to 157,000 in 2024-25, more than double in six years (Public Accounts Committee, 12 June 2026). DWP's staffing and processes never caught up.

DWP is quoting applicants a wait of up to 37 weeks. Its own target is 25 working days.

A separate National Audit Office count put the average wait at 109 days as of November 2025. By February 2026, 66,749 cases were still stuck (National Audit Office, February 2026).

DWP has hired 480 extra caseworkers and case managers. It aims to clear the backlog by September 2027, a year from now (National Audit Office, 2026). Staff numbers have already grown from 500 in March 2024 to 657 in March 2026.

A year-long clearance target means this backlog isn't short-term. Build your own plans around months of delay, not weeks.

Why the delay already costs dyslexic employees

Access to Work funds some of the biggest practical wins for dyslexic employees. Dictation software, reading pens, Read&Write licences, and support workers all come through it. When a claim sits in the queue for 37 weeks, none of that reaches the person who needs it.

Every week that a claim sits in the queue is another week without your dictation tool. It might mean re-reading emails five times, or turning down a report you could easily handle with the right software.

Here's the part that should make you angry: DWP's own review of 200 funded cases found something telling. About 40% of that support should have come from the employer, the employee's own budget, or the NHS. It never needed to touch Access to Work at all (Public Accounts Committee, 12 June 2026).

A realistic example

Say you need a £300 dictation licence and you start a new role this month. Your employer can approve that cost today, no Access to Work decision required. Nine months later, when your award finally arrives, your employer claims the £300 back.

That's the Tech Fund route. It pays 100% of assistive technology costs for anyone under six weeks into a new role, no employer contribution needed (DWP Access to Work guidance, 2026). Outside that window, cost-sharing applies, capped at £69,260 a year for 2026-27.

Working out your claim's real value takes the guesswork out of a long wait. It also shows which parts your employer could fund directly, right now. The Access to Work calculator gives you a working estimate in a couple of minutes.

Don't treat Access to Work as the only route to the tools you need. A chunk of what it funds, your employer can pay for today.

What counts as low-cost, and what's worth the wait

Not every adjustment suits the pay-now, claim-back approach. A reading pen or a software licence is easy for most employers to front. A part-time support worker's salary, or specialist equipment running into thousands, usually isn't.

For anything over a few hundred pounds, submit the Access to Work claim anyway, even at a 37-week wait. Ask your employer for an interim fix while you wait: a free tool, a schedule change, or a temporary workaround.

Match the fix to the cost. Don't wait nine months for something that costs less than your weekly grocery shop.

What to do while your claim is stuck

Your employer's duty to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010 starts the moment they know about your dyslexia. That duty does not wait for a DWP decision, whatever stage your claim has reached.

You don't need a formal diagnosis to start either process. A GP referral or a workplace screening result is often enough to trigger your employer's duty (Equality Act 2010; ACAS guidance, updated 30 January 2025). Access to Work works the same way.

For lower-cost items, ask your employer to pay upfront. Then claim the money back from Access to Work once your award comes through.

Employer repayments typically land within about 10 working days of a claim. That's far faster than a first Access to Work decision.

Name the specific problem, not a vague request for "support". That gets a faster answer from most employers.

The reasonable adjustments builder turns your sticking points into a short conversation plan and a draft email. It takes about two minutes.

Keep every letter DWP sends you, because rejections aren't rare. DWP turned down 33% of Access to Work claims in 2025-26 up to October 2025. That's up from 24% the year before (Written Parliamentary Question, Minister Stephen Timms, November 2025).

A refusal can be challenged through mandatory reconsideration. But you need the paperwork to back it up.

Written requests and saved paperwork are your proof now. A wait-and-see approach to DWP leaves you with nothing to point to later.

What this means for you

If you're mid-claim right now, send your employer a written request this week. Ask for the specific adjustment you need, and cite the Equality Act 2010 duty directly. Treat any Access to Work award as reimbursement, not a prerequisite.

That gets you working tools in days, not months. It still leaves your Access to Work claim running for costs your employer can't cover. Access to Work only covers UK-based roles; there's no US federal equivalent, though some state programmes fund similar equipment.

The roadmap deadline is DWP's problem to hit. Your adjustments request is yours to send today, and it doesn't need to wait for either one.