Your article (Liz Kendall says getting people into work is best way to cut benefits bill, 6 March) quotes the work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, as saying: “I think the only way that you get the welfare bill on a more sustainable footing is to get people into work.” What is not acknowledged in this statement is that getting people into work means nothing without there also being support to help keep them in work.
One of the most effective mechanisms for helping to keep disabled people in work is silently being cut by the government. As a disabled academic, for the last three years I have had a support worker, funded through the Access to Work scheme. This support has been integral to not just my remaining employed but flourishing. My previous grant was due to run out in January 2025 and I submitted my renewal application a few months prior, expecting the renewal to run as smoothly as it had the previous time.
Instead, without any explanation or justification, both the number of hours of support that I have been awarded and the amount that will be funded has been slashed – the former to nearly half, and the latter to a third. This means that instead of about 13 hours of support a week, I now receive three – despite absolutely nothing about my working conditions or my disability having changed.
My case is not an isolated one. If Labour is serious about not only getting people into work but also keeping them there, it should turn a serious eye to its decisions around its Access to Work scheme.
Sara L Uckelman
Associate professor of philosophy, Durham University
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
