More than 2,500 figures from the arts including leaders at the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company have signed an open letter stating that the government’s proposed changes to the Access to Work scheme could “risk disabled people being excluded from the workforce entirely”.
Indhu Rubasingham, the artistic director of the National Theatre, and Tamara Harvey and Daniel Evans, the co-artistic directors of the RSC, were among the signatories, who said the changes would have a “devastating impact” on disabled employment rates in the cultural sector.
Addressed to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the letter says the proposals in the Pathways to Work green paper will reverse decades of progress.
It adds: “We have worked for decades to ensure that the sector can provide better work for disabled people, and now the proposals threaten that progress, and risk disabled people being excluded from the workforce entirely. There is a clear need to reform Access to Work, but this must be based on constructively supporting disabled people into meaningful work, not a cost-cutting exercise.”
Access to Work is designed to help people with disabilities or adverse health conditions get back into work or remain in employment.
Companies and employees can apply for grants via the scheme to assist disabled people in the workplace, and can provide support beyond the “reasonable adjustments” an employer is required to make by law. It is designed to prevent employers from discriminating against those who could require expensive workplace accommodations.
The comedian and disability rights campaigner Jess Thom recently told of her “despair” at being informed her Access to Work payment was being cut by 61%.
Tom Ryalls, one of the organisers of the open letter, told the Guardian it was the fact “Jess was no longer able to do her job” and the current green paper consultation that triggered the letter’s release. “There’s the consultation but this is also about unspoken cuts that are already happening,” he said.
Almost 15% of the workforce in the creative industries are disabled, compared with about 23% in the general workforce. In organisations funded by Arts Council England, this figure falls to about 9%.
The letter calls for a pause on any changes until the Office for Budget Responsibility publishes its assessment; a commitment to protect and improve Access to Work; a guarantee that changes to the scheme will do no harm to disabled people’s participation in cultural life; and for those most affected, particularly disabled artists and cultural workers, to be consulted.
A government spokesperson said: “We are determined to create a welfare system that helps people into work and out of poverty. Our welfare reforms include a £1bn-a-year package to support disabled people who can work into work, so they have fulfilling careers in the arts and other sectors.”
