| The BSL video is not showing up on all browsers. If you can't see it, click here. From January 2021 to January 2022 annual CPIH* is 4.9%. This means many support workers (interpreters, speech to text, lipspeakers), etc. are having to put up their fees. (1) This may mean that you need to increase your ATW award. (If you have a capped award you can't increase it). (2) If you have enough budget, you may just need to increase the amount you can pay support workers each hour. (3) Or you may need to ask to increase your award and hourly rate. If you have this problem then you need to get three new quotes, showing the new rates, and make a 'change of circumstances' request, sending the three quotes as evidence of the increase in fees. Let DeafATW know if this works for you, or you have problem with this. *CPIH = Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ Housing costs | |
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The ATW cap (maximum award / budget) is worked out as 2 x the National Average Salary (NAS). If the National Average Salary goes up, then the ATW cap goes up too. The old cap from April 2020 to March 2021 is £60,700. The new cap from April 2021 to march 2022 is £62,900. (This is an increase of just over 3.6%) For information, see below for caps for all previous years since they started:
Click here to see the information in BSL. (This information in BSL was shared by AtW a week after the English information was shared. This is an improvement).
What are the extra changes? (1) If you are working from home, and need extra or different support, e.g. remote interpreting, you can ask AtW for this. (2) If you have health problems that mean you can’t safely use public transport for work at the moment, you can ask AtW for help with transport, e.g. taxis. (3) If you are anxious about going back to work, and need some support, you can ask AtW for some mental health support. You can get support for up to nine months. (DeafATW asked AtW, and AtW said that you can get support in BSL with an interpreter). (4) If you had a letter saying that you are “extremely clinically vulnerable” then AtW will sort out your funding more quickly. Click here to read AtW’s information about these changes in English. If you are off work (furloughed) because of Coronavirus, you can use your award to pay for communication support for "keep in touch" meeting with your manager and employer, e.g. for up to one hour a week.
If you are working at home then you can use your AtW award as usual. This information has been checked with AtW. AtW publishes the guidance that AtW Advisers use when they make decisions about your support.
Click here to see the latest guidance. It is a long document, but if you download the PDF you can search for things that are relevant to you. 20th April 2016
NUBSLI made a Freedom of Information request about the pay rates for interpreters and CSWs that they use when working out awards for Deaf people. The answer was that AtW "does not have set pay rates for BSL/English interpreting and CSW support for Deaf and deafblind people. Access to Work advisers, in discussion with the customer would establish both the level and type of support required and source this from within the area where they are working and do so on the best value for money basis." So if an AtW adviser tells you that the award is based on a fee that you know is too low for your area, you can challenge them, and show them the DWP's answer to the FoI request. They should be allowing you to send in questes so you can show what the market rate is for your area. Click here to read the full NUBSLI post. 18th March 2016
If AtW make a decision that doesn't make sense to you, then ask them to explain how they made the decision. If they still don't explain, ask again, and again, and again (!), until they do. Questions you can ask them include:
AtW advisers can make choices in what they decide, but they have to have a reason for those choices, they can't just make things up, or make decisions with no reason. Because they are a public service decision maker they are obliged (have to) tell you their reasons for their decisions. If the AtW adviser doesn't answer your question, or says that you have to do something, then just write back and ask them again. And again. Etc. If they refuse, or ignore you, then you should complain to AtW. Read "Never give up - An AtW success story" below about how this can work. 18th March 2016
Sometimes it can feel really hard to sort things out with AtW. Especially if it feels like AtW won't listen to you. This is a true story (I have changed some of the details to keep it anonymous) of someone who didn't give up, and got what they need in the end. Hannah is a BSL user who works with hearing children. She applied to AtW and said she needed 22 hours CSW support. At first, AtW said that the CSW would be doing Hannah’s job for her, so AtW would not support her. Hannah asked the AtW adviser how the CSW would be doing her job instead of her, but the adviser never answered that question. The adviser wouldn't change the decision, so Hannah asked AtW to reconsider the decision. The reconsideration decision said that they agreed with the adviser's decision, and would not change it. So Hannah made a complaint to AtW, because they had not explained how the CSW would be doing her job, but they did not reply for 4 months. She chased them 5 times, but they still didn't investigate her complaint. So she wrote to her MP. Her MP chased AtW, and they said they would investigate her complaint that week. They still didn't. So Hannah complained to the PHSO. The PHSO agreed with Hannah that AtW had got it wrong. They asked AtW to go back and make the decision again. This time, the AtW adviser decided that Hannah only needed 10 hours’ support a week, even though she had said 22 hours was what she needed to be able to do her job. Hannah asked the AtW adviser to explain how they decided 10 hours would be enough. The adviser did not not explain this, but asked Hannah for more information. Hannah gave the adviser the information they asked for, and also asked the adviser to explained how they had reached the view that this support would meet her minimum needs. The adviser didn't answer the question, and said that Hannah needed to explain why she needed 22 hours. Hannah wrote back and asked the adviser again to explained how they had reached the view that this support would meet her minimum needs. The adviser again replied, and didn't answer the question. This carried on for two months, Hannah just writing back and asking them the same question, and explaining that the adviser did need to answer the question about how they had made their decision. Hannah really felt like giving up, but she didn't. Then after 2 months, the AtW adviser wrote to Hannah and said they agreed to give her the 22 hours she had asked for. Success at last. The important thing Hannah did was not to give up, or get cross, even when she was very frustrated and fed up. AtW had not explained why they thought 10 hours was enough, so Hannah made sure she kept repeating that question. Because AtW could not explain their decision, they agreed to her request. So if you feel like giving up, remember this story. It may take time, and patience, but you can get there in the end. 18th March 2016
Some people have enough AtW support for most of the time, but for some months find they don't have enough hours for face to face interpreting, or enough minutes for remote interpreting (e.g. SignVideo). This may be because they have extra training at work one month, or have a lot of calls to make, etc. To help with this, some people have told DeafATW that they have agreed additional (extra) hours (face to face) or minutes (VRI / VRS) to be used when needed, on top of their monthly allowance. For example, an extra 50 hours of interpreting for the year to be used when needed, or an extra 120 minutes VRS/VRI. This can make things easier for you, and for AtW, because you don't have to keep asking for extra support. Let DeafATW know if you are able to agree this, or if you have problems. 7th November 2015
AtW have told many Deaf people that they will not pay for two interpreters for meetings, even though the current AtW Guidance says that two interpreters should be used for meeting of over two hours. Some Deaf people have also told us that AtW have agreed a budget for using two interpreters for meeting of over two hours. AtW have also told many Deaf people that they will never pay for notetakers. But a couple of Deaf people have told us that AtW have agreed a budget to pay for note taking support. So if AtW tell you that they never pay for two interpreters or notetakers, first ask for a reconsideration, then complain. 30th June 2015
Stop the Changes campaign have been contacted by a number of people who have had their hours support reduced because the AtW adviser says they have underspent (not spent all) their budget. Sometimes this seems to be a mistake by the AtW adviser. Sometimes it might be right, but there are obvious reasons why it shouldn't mean your budget is reduced, e.g. sickness. So, if the AtW adviser tells you that you have underspent your budget: 1) Check is this right. Work out the figures yourself. Tell the adviser and send them your figures if you think they are wrong. 2) Ask the adviser for the numbers they have used, and for the calculation where they worked out you are underspent. 3) If the AtW adviser won't send you these, you can make a Subject Access Request, which means they have to send you the information on your file about you. You can see how to do that here. 4) If you have underspent your budget, but there are good reasons for this, that means it is wrong to reduce your budget, explain that to the Adviser. E.g. if you used less because you had time off ill, or for recent holidays, or because you were on training and they provided the interpreter, then explain that this doesn't mean that you need less hours each month. 5) If the AtW adviser won't agree with you, you can make a formal reconsideration request to AtW. 6) If the reconsideration request doesn't help, or you have other problems with this, please contact DeafATW. Click here to download AtW Guidance on being employed and self-employed |
