Access to Work

Access to Work offers a range of services & financial grants devoted to retaining people with mental or physical illnesses within their workplace. The full service extends to all health conditions & disabilities for youth in work experience and persons in paid employment, including Mental Health Support services.

Provided by Remploy for the DWP, they deliver a 6 month advice & support service for employees suffering from either the full effects or symptoms of mental health worries. Each case is managed on an individual basis and the scheme can be applied for either by the individual themselves or a 3^rd party. It is important to note that the support is only available to those already in employment. Once in contact with Remploy, the process will begin by creating a tailor-made approach to coping with the stresses and strains that can make a place of employment a daily struggle. This really highlights the personal level of support offered. Remploy’s website contains a number of case studies to emphasise the personalised element to their services: each one is different & each one showcases a difficult barrier to overcome.

Both the application and the whole 6 month service is entirely free of charge which largely resolves any previous barriers encountered by employees looking for help.

Remploy are aware that many mental illnesses are a by-product of a physical health problem. Despite their remit lying strictly within the mental health realms, if an employee’s physical health problems are still causing an issue with their daily work load then Remploy will put them in contact with the correct health facilities. There really are many ways Access to Work can help and with the service being free, it is worth finding out how Remploy and the DWP can assist your organisations.

There is a wealth of online information about Access to Work on the Remploy Mental Health Support Service and the DWP websites. As mentioned previously, every case is assessed on an individual basis so if you want to know whether Remploy can help employee(s) you may have in mind, just contact them for a more specific proposal.

This relatively unknown scheme really can change someone’s working life and make the difference between them staying in employment or falling onto incapacity benefit