My dh has HMS and autonomic dysfunction. He's had a new NHS powerchair that has the right tilt function to mean he can go back to work- we've spent the past four years fighting for help for an adapted house, for right medical treatment, for not being fobbed off by Adult Social services- in fact we took a complaint to ombudsman level regarding them.
We didn't expect such a fight with Access to Work. The originally told him he couldn't do permitted work and get help- CAB told us this was nonsense. He informed AtW he was intending to go back to work, they said he had to call them when he actually was at work, not before. He decided to take the plunge and go full time (he was on ESA support group before), we got tax credits sorted etc, and AtW were still complaining weeks later because on their system he showed as being on ESA still- how is that his fault? Because he was in the support group, the decision to go back to work was his; no help or hindrance from the jobcentre (his doctor does know and she supports him, in fact he's going to ask her to help with AtW). He's never going to get better- his new powerchair changed his life, as did the house being adapted- if he didn't have those things, he couldn't even try working again, it's that simple.
To cut it short, he rang AtW in July..., started work in September and they still haven't actually done anything useful. Or helped in any way.
Apparently they can't adapt workplace premises- because they're new to us (aren't premises new to EVERYONE starting work?). They haven't offered any kind of assessment for anything else- he had an assessment years ago through disabled students allowance and had speech recognition programmes on his computer etc, which were helpful and we assumed AtW would work like that for finding the right support- there's probably loads of stuff he doesn't know about that would help but it seems you have to tell them what you need... AtW didn't like it that he had a wheelchair- the woman didn't seem to understand what nhs wheelchair services actually were. At one point they were telling him he had to purchase everything first, and they'd refund him- because everyone has a few space thousands lying around for equipment, don't they, especially after coming off benefits?!
What are Access to Work actually supposed to do?
They're not actually helping him in any way to work or stay working. He's self-employed (we work together). There's a LOT they could do- but everything is No or they've never heard of it.
It's so frustrating- they're a department supposedly entirely concerned with helping disabled people get into work and stay in work and they don't seem to be able to assist in any way at all!
If he'd been employed, he'd have lost his job by now- no employer would wait months for AtW to mess about!