What we know, what we don’t know, and what ND Professionals can do now
If you fund your workplace support through Access to Work — or you’ve been thinking about applying — the current policy landscape deserves your attention.
Reform proposals are in progress. The picture is not yet settled. And one group is conspicuously absent from the conversation: self-employed neurodivergent professionals.
Here is what we know, what we don’t, and what we recommend doing in the meantime.
What’s been proposed
In March 2025, the government published its Pathways to Work Green Paper — a wide-ranging set of proposals to reform incapacity and disability benefits, including Access to Work. The paper set out three potential approaches to the future of the scheme:
Option 1: Shift more responsibility to employers — requiring organisations to fund more of the adjustments currently supported by Access to Work, on the basis that many fall within what employers are already legally required to provide under the Equality Act.
Option 2: Move to a targeted individual fund model — replacing the current demand-led scheme with a capped fund for individuals to spend on workplace adaptations, beyond what their employer is legally required to provide.
Option 3: Hybrid approaches — combining elements of both, potentially with different arrangements for different groups of claimants.
The National Audit Office published a detailed report on Access to Work in February 2026, noting that the current maximum annual grant stands at £69,260, and that the scheme has seen significant growth in demand in recent years — particularly among neurodivergent claimants.
No final decision on reform has been announced as of July 2026. What is clear is that change is coming, and that the consultation process is ongoing.
The self-employment gap
One of the most significant concerns about the current proposals is what they don’t address.
The Pathways to Work Green Paper is focused almost entirely on the relationship between employed individuals and their employers. The three proposed options all assume that there is an employer in the picture — one who can be required to fund more, or who sits alongside a capped individual grant.
Self-employed neurodivergent professionals are largely absent from the proposals.
This matters enormously. For many neurodivergent people, self-employment is not a lifestyle preference — it is the most viable way to work. Conventional employment environments, with their fixed hours, open-plan offices, rigid performance frameworks, and social demands, are genuinely inaccessible for a significant number of neurodivergent individuals. Self-employment offers the autonomy and flexibility that allows them to work sustainably and well.
Access to Work, as it currently stands, is available to self-employed people. It can fund a support worker, assistive technology, and other practical provision that makes running a business viable. For some self-employed neurodivergent professionals, it is what stands between a sustainable working life and one that isn’t sustainable at all.
If the proposed reforms proceed without adequately addressing the needs of self-employed claimants, this group — already without the HR infrastructure, occupational health support, and employer-funded adjustments available to employees — will be left without an adequate safety net.
We think this matters. We’ll continue to say so.
What this means for current Access to Work claimants
If you currently receive Access to Work funding, the most important thing to know is this: existing awards are not immediately affected by the reform proposals. The government has been clear that changes will be phased, and the consultation process is still ongoing.
However, there are practical steps worth taking now:
Keep your paperwork in order. Ensure that your current award documentation is up to date, that you understand what your funding covers and when it is due for review, and that you have records of how the support is being used and the difference it makes. And of course that you have filed all tax returns due. This information will be relevant if you need to make a case for continued funding at renewal.
Apply if you haven’t already. If you are a neurodivergent professional who hasn’t yet applied for Access to Work, now is the time to do so. Current eligibility criteria and funding levels are still theoretically in place. Delaying an application means delaying access to support that could make a real difference, and potentially applying into an even more restrictive framework in the future.
Seek help with the process. Access to Work applications can be complex, particularly for self-employed people. If you’ve tried before and found the process too demanding, or if you’re unsure whether you qualify, we can help. Navigating this is one of the things we do.
While you’re waiting: is self-funding worth considering?
Access to Work applications are currently taking up to 37 weeks to process. For a self-employed neurodivergent professional, that is a long time to wait — particularly if the friction the support would address is affecting your business right now.
It’s worth asking yourself honestly: what is it costing you not to have support in place? Not just in monetary terms, but in capacity, in stress, in the work that isn’t getting done, in the opportunities that are harder to pursue when your energy is going into managing around your condition rather than into your business.
Self-funding, even as a bridging measure while an Access to Work application is in progress, may cost less than you think. We will be transparent with you about what it involves, and we will apply for Access to Work funding in parallel to offset it. For many of our clients, the difference that support makes — to output, to stability, to how the working day actually feels — is significant enough that the cost-benefit calculation is clearer than they expected.
We will always advise you clearly and honestly about any costs involved before anything is agreed.
If you’d like to talk to one of our specialists about what support might look like for you — and what it might realistically cost — you can book a conversation here:
👉 Book time with an expert at Reinforce Potential
What remains constant
We want to be honest: we don’t know exactly what the Access to Work landscape will look like in twelve months. Nobody does. The reform proposals are still in consultation, the political environment is shifting, and the final shape of any changes will depend on pressures that are not yet fully resolved.
Our own experience at Reinforce Potential CIC is that funding applications and renewals for business owners are tough, demanding and disappointing in equal measure: grants are almost always much lower, and greater evidence is required to justify them. We have been asked to supply all evidence by post and within tight deadlines. On the DWP’s side, meanwhile, demands on the Mail Handling Centres at Wolverhampton have caused serious delays — and serious errors. We have witnessed documents lost and scans omitted, after which the original documents are routinely shredded. Case Managers have left the service without warning and without replacement, some of whom we will miss.
What we do know is that the need for practical, well-matched support for neurodivergent professionals doesn’t depend on what the government decides to do with Access to Work. That need exists regardless. And RPC’s commitment to meeting it exists regardless.
Access to Work funding, where available, makes professional support more affordable. We will always help our clients pursue it. But it is a funding mechanism, not the foundation of what we offer.
The foundation is the support itself — skilled, matched carefully to the individual, and focused on what actually makes the working day better for this specific person.
That doesn’t change with the policy cycle.
If you’d like to talk
Whether you have questions about Access to Work, concerns about what the reforms might mean for you, or simply want to understand what support might look like — we’re here.
👉 Book a conversation with our team
🌐 reinforcepotential.co.uk | 📞 01843 835 551
