10/05/2011

In the third quarter of 2010-11 there were only 2,940 ‘new customers helped’, an average of 980 a month, compared with an average of 1,374 a month in 2009-10.

It is the first evidence that new coalition rules on ATW are making it harder for disabled people to secure support. If figures for the fourth quarter remain at that level, there will have been a drop of more than 2,000 new customers in its first year.

The rules mean employers or disabled people themselves now have to fund equipment such as basic versions of voice-activated software, most adapted chairs and back and arm rests rather than having them funded through ATW.

In addition, Inclusion London is receiving reports from disabled people already receiving ATW that their funding is being cut, undermining their ability to maintain their employment . Yet a DWP spokeswoman has said, “The government is committed to ensuring disabled people get and keep jobs and the ATW programme can help where the assistance needed is above and beyond what the employer could reasonably provide”.

“It is right that we concentrate funding for equipment that employers are not legally obliged to provide. By doing this, we can help as many people as possible get into work by making sure the money goes where needed.”

Inclusion London is extremely concerned that despite this reassurance statistics reveal that fewer disabled people are receiving crucial support to get and keep work at a time when it is more difficult to find employment. It appears that the government has one policy to encourage disabled people into work and another that takes away the support needed to do so and which may prove a disincentive for companies to employ disabled people.