Accessing Access to Work as a Self-Employed Person

Written By Alice Hargreaves

‘Can I apply for Access to Work when I’m self-employed?’

This is a question that I get asked a lot, especially by fellow entrepreneurs and self-employed people.  In short, yes. And really, it’s something that you should be doing. 

Here’s what you need to know!

What is Access to Work? 

It’s a publicly funded programme that helps you to start and stay at work, and that can include self-employment too! 

You could be entitled to a grant of up to £66,000 and that can be used for a variety of things including a support worker, special aids and equipment, and even transportation costs. We’ll go into more details below. 

Who is eligible for Access to Work? 

If you’re disabled under the Equality Act 2010 and employed or self-employed, then you’re eligible.  

You are disabled by the Equality Act “if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a 'substantial' and 'long-term' negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities”.

Access to Work provides a bit more detail about who can apply:  

  • Someone with a disability or health condition who needs support to do their job

  • Someone with a mental health condition who needs support at work

You’ll also need to be: 

  • Over 16

  • Be in, or about to start, paid employment - including if you’re self-employed

  • Normally resident in England, Scotland, or Wales 

  • Not be claiming Incapacity Benefit or Employment Support Allowance once you’re in work

If you’re self-employed there are two scenarios. If you’re already self-employed and you’ve started doing your tax returns then you won’t need to prove anything further (you’ll just need your UTR). If you’re just starting, they’ll sometimes ask to see a business plan that shows how you intend to make money moving forward.

As a general rule of thumb, they’ll be looking to see that income is coming in, or should come in, but there are no specific rules around your level of income. We’ve known people with around £8k in annual income successfully apply! 

How does Access to Work benefit self-employed people? 

Self-employment is hard, and getting any form of support can be a huge benefit.13% of disabled people are self-employed compared to 9% of non-disabled people - so you’re certainly not alone. 

Access to Work can help you to conserve your energy so that you can focus on building a great business.

How much does Access to Work cost? 

Access to Work will pay grants of up to 100% for self-employed people. The only time this will change is if you’re running a big company with a big team. In which case, our guide for employers might be really helpful. 

What does Access to Work pay for? 

This is such a hard list to compile because honestly, there is no list. This is very much down to some of the support I’m aware of, and I’ll keep adding to it too. 

  • Support worker - as someone self-employed, this has been the biggest help. As a rule of thumb, they’ll provide a support worker (AKA a personal assistant or VA) for 20% of your working hours. However, if you’ve got multiple conditions or specific challenges then they will offer you one for more hours. Make sure you ask for a “support worker” - Access to Work loves to use very specific phrases. 

  • Disability impact training - If you’ve just been diagnosed with your condition or come to terms with a new condition, this can be a huge help. It’s effectively a form of coaching/mentoring that focuses on adjustments, adaptations, and a bunch of tips and tricks. This is something we can also help with -  Drop us an email to discuss!

  • Coaching - This is something that Access to Work seems pretty keen on, so even if it doesn’t float your boat it’s good to show willingness. Your coach will usually specialise in your specific disability or neurodivergence and you’re allowed to choose someone who you’d specifically like to work with.

  • Special aids and equipment - Honestly, there are a lot of things here, and you’ll know what suits you. This could be a specialist screen, a writing tablet, a more supportive chair, an ergonomic keypad, a new desk, and even things like under-desk walking pads. 

  • Adaptions to premises or equipment - if your home isn’t designed for what you need to do to be self-employed, this can cover things like ramps, widened doorways, or even adaptions to an office or co-working space you go to. 

  • Tech - this can be anything from proofreading tools, screen readers, project management support, and loads of things that can help you with your day-to-day. You can also ask for training on new software. 

  • Travel - if you need to travel to do your day-to-day activities, things like taxis can be covered. If you experience things like chronic fatigue you can also get support with things like hotels the night before an event, or some consulting work. 

  • Memberships - perhaps you’d really benefit from a network of peers who are also disabled or neurodivergent? Our friends at Joyfully Different provide neurodivergent entrepreneurs with loads of events as well as opportunities to work through your finances with a coach monthly. Also, Flown is a great resource for neurodivergent people who need help with co-working and body doubling.

How to apply for Access to Work

You can apply online here or apply by phone. 

Ahead of applying you’ll need these things to hand:  

  • Your contact details

  • Information about how your condition affects your work and what support you think you might need. 

  • Your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number. 

Someone from Access to Work will then be in touch to discuss the application (often this is a phone call out of the blue around 12 weeks after applying). If you’re working with an agency, or using an advocate, you can ask them to be on the call with you, or for them to deal with the correspondence on your behalf. 

After the assessment, you’ll normally get a decision quite quickly (a few weeks) but that decision is not final. If there’s anything that needs to be reconsidered (such as the cost of a specific service) then you can either call the helpline or respond to the email from the person managing the account. 

The money is then claimed via either paper forms or an online portal. 

Other things you need to know about Access to Work

Know the cost of things first 

The pricing is not always that accurate. If you want to use a specialist agency for a support worker, know their pricing in advance. I’ve known support worker estimates of £10 and £12 an hour from Access to Work, when in reality they’re much more likely to be between £20-40 an hour, and sometimes subject to VAT too. 

Know what to prioritise 

£66k felt like loads when I was starting on my Access to Work journey. But my support worker is £36 per hour plus VAT so that money disappears quite quickly. There are quite a few other things I’d have liked to apply for, but I prioritised just three: a notetaking tool (Remarkable), a support worker, and some coaching. 

If you struggle with numbers, have a friend or family member go through how much things might cost so that you know how much of an award you need and what you want to prioritise when you speak to an advisor.

Know what you need 

The first time I applied, I didn’t know what I could get, or what I needed. I was offered some fancy dictation software and actually, this caused a lot of issues. I’m not very tech savvy and if I didn’t have someone sit with me to do it, I’d never have downloaded it onto my computer, so I didn’t. I was also someone who thinks by writing things down and stumbles over their words easily, so dictation software wasn’t something that would have helped me either. So the second time around, I applied for a note-taking tablet. Much more suitable for what I need. 

Think about the freemium stuff you have, and if premium would help

If you love Asana or any other project management tool or things like Grammarly but couldn’t imagine paying for the premium because you can’t justify the cost, then this could be an opportunity to change that. 

Keep re-applying 

My first award was only 11 months because I didn’t get a confirmation email through very quickly. So I’ve already set aside time 12 weeks before that award finishes to apply again. I’ve been told sometimes they’ll up the length of the award if things don’t change from year to year. 

Ask the experts 

We have monthly career clinics where topics like Access to Work always come up so take the opportunity to join us. You can find out more here.  

Some support worker agencies will also help you through the whole process for free, if they think you’re likely to be awarded a support worker. 

Here are a few we’ve found. 

Where possible, avoid paying for support with your Access to Work application

There are loads of free resources and free services, so there shouldn’t be a need to pay someone to support you. Our guide, here, has a bunch of places to find support including some great social media accounts too! 

Need to know more about Access to Work? 

This is by no means an extensive guide and is informed by our lived experience. We do hope though that we can adapt this blog and grow it. If you have a specific question we haven’t covered, or even have some advice to share, get in touch via hello@sicofficial.co.uk and we’ll be happy to answer your questions and update this article where necessary. 

Looking for a guide for employers? We’ve got one here! 

Looking for a guide for employees? We’ll be creating a similar article in the next couple of weeks. 

Alice Hargreaves
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