It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to Elizabeth Wright of Admin and More, the provider of virtual PA support for businesses across the UK.
Focusing her thoughts on the Access to Work programme, Elizabeth says that whilst the programme is a fantastic resource, delays in the system must be fixed soon if employer confidence is to remain.
The government’s Access to Work scheme is a fantastic initiative, especially when you consider that from July to September 2022, the disability employment rate fell, whilst the non-disabled employment rate rose, meanwhile a November 2023 report by the TUC highlighted a shocking ‘pay gap’.
Access to Work is a huge part of redressing this situation, helping disabled employees into the workplace and helping their employers with access to funding and support.
The problem is, the system is struggling to keep up and sadly, many employers are beginning to feel the pinch as payments are being delayed. They often do not have the skillset, let alone the time or resources to process these claims if they do not have external support from companies like ourselves and other skilled partners.
We are at a crucial crossroads here in terms of balancing supply and demand which needs urgently looking at.
The demand is sky-high. We have never been busier within our Access To Work division in terms of processing claims and payments on employers and employees’ behalf but we are hearing lots of suppliers and employers are losing faith.
It can create a real cashflow crisis when the funds are delayed because the employees still need to be paid, whatever the delays in the system.
I fear that if this continues, employers may lose confidence in Access to Work which would be a crying shame because the difference it can make is genuinely life-changing for so many people.
Here’s hoping these delays can be sorted because this is a scheme that can really make a difference for everyone.
