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 2022 to March 2023 is £65,180.  

The new cap from April 2023 to March 2024 is £66,000.  (This is an increase of just over 1.25%)

For information, see below for caps for all previous years since they started:

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%)
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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.  

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.
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​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