July 2019 - Justin Tomlinson becomes Minister of State for Disabled People, Work and Health (again)
30th July 2019
Justin Tomlinson became Minister of State for Disabled People, Work and Health, 4th April 2019.
He previously served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Disabled People from May 2015 until July 2016.
Justin Tomlinson became Minister of State for Disabled People, Work and Health, 4th April 2019.
He previously served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Disabled People from May 2015 until July 2016.
March 2019 - Minister of State for Disabled People, Work and Health resigned.
20th March 2019
On 13th March 2019, Sarah Newton, resigned over a vote related to Brexit. She had been Minister since November 2017. No replacement had been announced yet.
The Minister of State for Disabled People, Work and Health is important to us, as they are responsible for ATW.
On 13th March 2019, Sarah Newton, resigned over a vote related to Brexit. She had been Minister since November 2017. No replacement had been announced yet.
The Minister of State for Disabled People, Work and Health is important to us, as they are responsible for ATW.
November 2017 - Sarah Newton new Minister for Disabled People
17th November 2017
Penny Mordaunt was the Minister for Disabled People from July 2016 to November 2017. She has now been promoted to become International Development Secretary. Sarah Newton has been promoted to become the new Minister for Disabled People. Sarah is the seventh Minister for Disabled People in seven years. |
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August 2017 - Penny Mordaunt - will continue as Minister for Disabled People
1st August 2017
After an election, there is often a change in Ministers. There have been changes with other Ministers, however Penny Mordaunt will be continuing as Minister for Disabled People. This is a good thing, because every time there is a change it takes time to get to know the new Minister. We already know Penny Mordaunt, and so campaigning is a little easier. |
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May 2015 - Justin Tomlinson MP is new Minister for Disabled People
12th May 2015
It has just been announced that Justin Thomlinson, MP for North Swindon, has been made Minister for Disabled People, replacing Mark Harper.
We don’t know yet if he will be responsible for AtW, or if it will be the Minister for Employment who will be responsible.
If you want to read more about Justin, you can see his website here. On his website he doesn’t talk about Deaf or disability issues.
You can see how he voted on laws about Equality and Human Rights here, how he voted on Benefits for Those Unemployed Due to Illness or Disability here, how he voted in general here.
I’ll update when we know who will be responsible for AtW.
It has just been announced that Justin Thomlinson, MP for North Swindon, has been made Minister for Disabled People, replacing Mark Harper.
We don’t know yet if he will be responsible for AtW, or if it will be the Minister for Employment who will be responsible.
If you want to read more about Justin, you can see his website here. On his website he doesn’t talk about Deaf or disability issues.
You can see how he voted on laws about Equality and Human Rights here, how he voted on Benefits for Those Unemployed Due to Illness or Disability here, how he voted in general here.
I’ll update when we know who will be responsible for AtW.
Mark Harper says what the next changes to AtW will be
12th March 2015. Updated 18th March 2015 with links to other comments.
Mark Harper, Minister for Disabled People, has made a written statement to parliament today, saying what changes are planned with AtW. This is not the formal response to the Select Committee, which will come later (after the elections - see update 25th March 2015 above).
Click here to read the statement
There are a couple of really good things in there, some that are mixed, and some that aren’t good at all.
In summary –
Please see below for more discussion of this, which reflects the feedback I've had from Deaf and disabled people.
What looks good:
AtW will offer a Video Relay Service option for BSL users later in 2015/16. Fantastic. Let’s hope this happens very soon.
The “30 hour guidance” will be removed. This is because it is not needed now AtW has a maximum award limit.
AtW will publish summaries of the guidance for users, including in easy read and BSL formats. This should be helpful, especially if it is accessible and up to date.
Changes that could be good or bad:
AtW will offer personal budgets for those with on-going awards for travel or support. This could be brilliant, giving people the flexibility to use the agreed support how and when they need it. However, it will only work if people are given enough money to buy the support they need. For example, if you need interpreting support that costs £30,000 a year, but AtW give you £20,000, you won't be able to get the support you need. AtW will start a process of introducing personal budgets in 2015/16. There will also need to be support to make this work effectively, including; for people to understand their own work support needs, what support options there are, how to manage a personal budget, etc.
A new project is underway to make Access to Work a digital service. If this means there will be more ways to contact AtW, that will be good. But if response times remain the same, that won't help much. It is important that AtW offers users a range of ways to contact them to suit people’s needs.
AtW is working with the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) to use their framework agreement for the provision of language (interpreting) services. If the framework says that only interpreters registered with the NRCPD should be used, and if the rates AtW will pay for support vary less between advisers, then the framework would be an improvement.
However the CCS have not worked with interpreters or Deaf people (that we can see) in developing this, and there is a risk that it will bring more problems for Deaf AtW users, in the same way that the ’30-hour guidance’ was a problem. For example, the framework currently pays a 2-hour minimum, and no travel. Most interpreters could not afford to work at those rates, especially in more rural areas.
You can read NUBSLI’s statement on the NFA here.
And the NRCPD’s here.
AtW will work with Deaf people and stakeholder groups to undertake a market review of BSL interpretation provision to explore long-term improvements in the market. It’s hard to know what this means in practice. E.g. it could look at interpreter numbers and regional availability, skills relevant to AtW, NRCPD registration, pathways to registration, fees, etc.
AtW now have a specialist team set up to support Deaf and disabled people running their own businesses. AtW Advisers have been really poor at supporting people running their own business, so having a team that really understands this should help.
Whether this is good or not will depend on how accessible the team are, whether they have a good understanding of the realities of running a business if you are Deaf or disabled, and how good their understanding of different disabilities is. (For example, sometimes the Deaf specialist team doesn’t seem to understand Deafness).
From October 2015 eligibility for AtW support for people running their own business will be based around the Universal Credit (UC) rules. Reading the latest update on UC and self employed people (click here) it appears as if that means for new businesses in the first year there will be no minimum income required, then after that your minimum income will have to be National Minimum Wage for your age group.
Changes that are bad for Deaf and disabled people:
AtW will have a cap on AtW budgets. From October 2015, for new applicants, Access to Work will provide awards up to a limit set at one and half times national average salary (a limit of £40,800 per person per year at October 2015). (This does not mean that the cap will be one and a half times the Deaf person's salary).
Under the ‘30-hour guidance’ the cap was generally between £30,000 and £35,000, so this is a small improvement on that. But it does not return AtW to the needs focus that it had up until 2013, where there was no cap.
This means that people who have high cost work access needs, particularly Deaf people who require close to full time interpreting access, still won't be able to get the support they need. So, for example, a deafblind person who needs full time communication access support and support with travel would not be able to work without a substantial employer contribution.
The minister says that people will be able to adjust to this through use of reasonable adjustments, greater use of technology, and a personal budget to be tailored to the individual’s needs. If those adjustments mean that the budget is not enough to enable the disabled person to fully carry out their role, the employer would be expected to fund any additional costs.
For Deaf and disabled people who run their own companies and for SMEs such additional costs are likely to be unaffordable. This will mean that SMEs and DDPOs (Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations) will no longer be able to employ people with high access costs. And an inadequate personal budget won’t make unaffordable access affordable.
One of the Select Committees biggest criticisms, and strongest recommendations, was that AtW should move away from it’s new budget focus and back to a needs focus. This statement ignores that. Given that the average AtW budget is £3,000 and over half of users need support costing under £1,000, the Minister’s view that limiting high cost awards is the only way to enable AtW to expand makes no sense. Based on its own figures, the scheme could expand massively with only a modest increase in its overall budget.
It is at least good that this change won't affect people who have higher awards until April 2018. Previously when AtW made changes they often happened very quickly, and didn't give people time to plan or challenge the change before it happened.
Things that aren't in this statement but should be:
Improving things for people who have already had problems. A lot of Deaf and disabled people have already been badly affected by changes with AtW. Many have lost their AtW support, (in particular, self employed people), have had their budgets reduced, or had other problems. This written statement doesn't say anything about putting things right for them.
Changing the culture of AtW, and the focus to needs not budgets. There is no commitment in the statement to change the culture, and its focus on budgets, rather than access needs.
Reasonable adjustments and employers contributions. There is no commitment to clarify expectations of employers with regard to reasonable adjustments and contributions, for example, exempting self employed people, DDPOs and SMEs.
And it is a shame that the Minister’s statement itself has not been made available in BSL or easy read.
Other comments include concerns about the mental health support offered, where AtW are offering more of the same service rather than diversifying to meet a wider range of needs, and that AtW will pilot contracted services for taxis (limiting choice).
Click here for the BDA comments on the proposed changes - with BSL
Click here for the Disability News Services comments on the proposed changes. Includes reactions from a wide range of organisations and people.
Click here for Stop the Changes to AtW comments on the proposed changes
Click here for the Business Disability Forum comments
They say some really interesting things. Including that "Introducing a cap on the value of awards also misrepresents the principle behind the scheme, which is designed to be a labour market intervention and not a benefit.
Click here for Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) comments
Click here for Action on Hearing Loss's comments
Mark Harper, Minister for Disabled People, has made a written statement to parliament today, saying what changes are planned with AtW. This is not the formal response to the Select Committee, which will come later (after the elections - see update 25th March 2015 above).
Click here to read the statement
There are a couple of really good things in there, some that are mixed, and some that aren’t good at all.
In summary –
- The “30 hour rule” will be removed, because support costs will be limited to £40,800 per user per year. This is based on 1.5 times the national average salary (not 1.5 times the Deaf person's average salary).
- AtW will become an online service, and will offer Video Relay calling for Deaf BSL users
- AtW will start to offer ‘personal budgets’ for support costs and travel costs to give users more choice and flexibility
- AtW wants to use the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) framework agreement for the provision of language (interpreting) services.
- AtW will have a specialist team for self employed users, and will base eligibility rules on the rules for Universal Credit.
Please see below for more discussion of this, which reflects the feedback I've had from Deaf and disabled people.
What looks good:
AtW will offer a Video Relay Service option for BSL users later in 2015/16. Fantastic. Let’s hope this happens very soon.
The “30 hour guidance” will be removed. This is because it is not needed now AtW has a maximum award limit.
AtW will publish summaries of the guidance for users, including in easy read and BSL formats. This should be helpful, especially if it is accessible and up to date.
Changes that could be good or bad:
AtW will offer personal budgets for those with on-going awards for travel or support. This could be brilliant, giving people the flexibility to use the agreed support how and when they need it. However, it will only work if people are given enough money to buy the support they need. For example, if you need interpreting support that costs £30,000 a year, but AtW give you £20,000, you won't be able to get the support you need. AtW will start a process of introducing personal budgets in 2015/16. There will also need to be support to make this work effectively, including; for people to understand their own work support needs, what support options there are, how to manage a personal budget, etc.
A new project is underway to make Access to Work a digital service. If this means there will be more ways to contact AtW, that will be good. But if response times remain the same, that won't help much. It is important that AtW offers users a range of ways to contact them to suit people’s needs.
AtW is working with the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) to use their framework agreement for the provision of language (interpreting) services. If the framework says that only interpreters registered with the NRCPD should be used, and if the rates AtW will pay for support vary less between advisers, then the framework would be an improvement.
However the CCS have not worked with interpreters or Deaf people (that we can see) in developing this, and there is a risk that it will bring more problems for Deaf AtW users, in the same way that the ’30-hour guidance’ was a problem. For example, the framework currently pays a 2-hour minimum, and no travel. Most interpreters could not afford to work at those rates, especially in more rural areas.
You can read NUBSLI’s statement on the NFA here.
And the NRCPD’s here.
AtW will work with Deaf people and stakeholder groups to undertake a market review of BSL interpretation provision to explore long-term improvements in the market. It’s hard to know what this means in practice. E.g. it could look at interpreter numbers and regional availability, skills relevant to AtW, NRCPD registration, pathways to registration, fees, etc.
AtW now have a specialist team set up to support Deaf and disabled people running their own businesses. AtW Advisers have been really poor at supporting people running their own business, so having a team that really understands this should help.
Whether this is good or not will depend on how accessible the team are, whether they have a good understanding of the realities of running a business if you are Deaf or disabled, and how good their understanding of different disabilities is. (For example, sometimes the Deaf specialist team doesn’t seem to understand Deafness).
From October 2015 eligibility for AtW support for people running their own business will be based around the Universal Credit (UC) rules. Reading the latest update on UC and self employed people (click here) it appears as if that means for new businesses in the first year there will be no minimum income required, then after that your minimum income will have to be National Minimum Wage for your age group.
Changes that are bad for Deaf and disabled people:
AtW will have a cap on AtW budgets. From October 2015, for new applicants, Access to Work will provide awards up to a limit set at one and half times national average salary (a limit of £40,800 per person per year at October 2015). (This does not mean that the cap will be one and a half times the Deaf person's salary).
Under the ‘30-hour guidance’ the cap was generally between £30,000 and £35,000, so this is a small improvement on that. But it does not return AtW to the needs focus that it had up until 2013, where there was no cap.
This means that people who have high cost work access needs, particularly Deaf people who require close to full time interpreting access, still won't be able to get the support they need. So, for example, a deafblind person who needs full time communication access support and support with travel would not be able to work without a substantial employer contribution.
The minister says that people will be able to adjust to this through use of reasonable adjustments, greater use of technology, and a personal budget to be tailored to the individual’s needs. If those adjustments mean that the budget is not enough to enable the disabled person to fully carry out their role, the employer would be expected to fund any additional costs.
For Deaf and disabled people who run their own companies and for SMEs such additional costs are likely to be unaffordable. This will mean that SMEs and DDPOs (Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations) will no longer be able to employ people with high access costs. And an inadequate personal budget won’t make unaffordable access affordable.
One of the Select Committees biggest criticisms, and strongest recommendations, was that AtW should move away from it’s new budget focus and back to a needs focus. This statement ignores that. Given that the average AtW budget is £3,000 and over half of users need support costing under £1,000, the Minister’s view that limiting high cost awards is the only way to enable AtW to expand makes no sense. Based on its own figures, the scheme could expand massively with only a modest increase in its overall budget.
It is at least good that this change won't affect people who have higher awards until April 2018. Previously when AtW made changes they often happened very quickly, and didn't give people time to plan or challenge the change before it happened.
Things that aren't in this statement but should be:
Improving things for people who have already had problems. A lot of Deaf and disabled people have already been badly affected by changes with AtW. Many have lost their AtW support, (in particular, self employed people), have had their budgets reduced, or had other problems. This written statement doesn't say anything about putting things right for them.
Changing the culture of AtW, and the focus to needs not budgets. There is no commitment in the statement to change the culture, and its focus on budgets, rather than access needs.
Reasonable adjustments and employers contributions. There is no commitment to clarify expectations of employers with regard to reasonable adjustments and contributions, for example, exempting self employed people, DDPOs and SMEs.
And it is a shame that the Minister’s statement itself has not been made available in BSL or easy read.
Other comments include concerns about the mental health support offered, where AtW are offering more of the same service rather than diversifying to meet a wider range of needs, and that AtW will pilot contracted services for taxis (limiting choice).
Click here for the BDA comments on the proposed changes - with BSL
Click here for the Disability News Services comments on the proposed changes. Includes reactions from a wide range of organisations and people.
Click here for Stop the Changes to AtW comments on the proposed changes
Click here for the Business Disability Forum comments
They say some really interesting things. Including that "Introducing a cap on the value of awards also misrepresents the principle behind the scheme, which is designed to be a labour market intervention and not a benefit.
Click here for Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) comments
Click here for Action on Hearing Loss's comments
Mark Harper. Minister for Disabled people - summary of statement.
12th January 2015
This is what Mark Harper’s statement to Parliament on 18/12/2014 says. I’ve re-written it as much as possible to make it clearer. You can also read the original statement here.
When I gave evidence to the Select Committee on 29th October 2014 I said these things:
I also said that I wanted to make more improvements quickly, and not wait. I will make these improvements:
I will also think about what the Select Committee report says, and will respond to that later.
This is what Mark Harper’s statement to Parliament on 18/12/2014 says. I’ve re-written it as much as possible to make it clearer. You can also read the original statement here.
When I gave evidence to the Select Committee on 29th October 2014 I said these things:
- From April to October 2014, when AtW was being reorganised, AtW did not meet their “customer service standards”.
- Now customer service has improved a lot, and this has happened quicker than planned. For example, AtW claims are now usually paid within 10 days.
I also said that I wanted to make more improvements quickly, and not wait. I will make these improvements:
- Have specialist AtW teams to make sure they can understand the issues for people who use AtW and so that AtW Advisers in those teams make similar decisions with each other.
- AtW already has specialist teams for Deaf people, Blind people, and people with mental health conditions.
- We are thinking about setting up more specialist teams.
- We will set up a ‘Technology and Innovation (new ideas)’ forum to help customers, AtW staff, and other people to understand how new technology now and in the future can help Deaf and disabled people get and keep work.
- Will run events early in 2015 so that people know about the AtW Mental Health Support service.
- Will make it easier for customers to use email with AtW, if customers ask for that as a ‘reasonable adjustment’. This will better meet customers access needs, and mean things get sorted out faster.
- Will work with stakeholders in order to develop more useable AtW Guidance, and plan to publish this by the end of March 2015.
- The DWP provides official statistics about AtW. I will put more information about how AtW is doing, starting with the official statistics due in January 2015. I will also see how we can provide even more information in future statistics.
I will also think about what the Select Committee report says, and will respond to that later.
July 2014 - Mark Harper MP replaces Mike Penning MP as Minister for Disabled People
28 July 2014
Following Cameron's reshuffle of Mark Harper MP has replaced Mike Penning MP as Minister for Disabled People. He is also Minister of State at the Department for Work and Pensions.
It's not clear yet what impact this will have on the promised DWP review of AtW.
Following Cameron's reshuffle of Mark Harper MP has replaced Mike Penning MP as Minister for Disabled People. He is also Minister of State at the Department for Work and Pensions.
It's not clear yet what impact this will have on the promised DWP review of AtW.