When an employee with sight loss or hearing loss needs support at work, the usual first step is to point them towards Access to Work. It is a sensible step, and the grant can make a real difference. The difficulty is the wait. The National Audit Office reported in February 2026 that the average time to process an application had reached 109 working days in November 2025, against a Department for Work and Pensions target of 25 days. The employee’s difficulties do not pause while the application sits in the queue.
This article is for HR, occupational health teams and case managers. It sets out what an employer can do in the meantime, and when a private workplace assessment, which people sometimes search for as a private Access to Work assessment, is worth arranging alongside an application.
How long Access to Work is taking
The National Audit Office summary gives the clearest official picture. The average processing time was 28 working days in 2021 to 2022, 66 working days in 2024 to 2025 and 109 working days in November 2025. The department’s own target is 25 days. Over the same period the number of applications waiting for a decision rose from 21,700 in March 2022 to 62,100 in March 2025.
The report puts the pressure down to rising demand, case manager productivity, inefficient systems and budget constraints, and says the department does not expect a significant short-term reduction while it manages the backlog within the scheme’s budget. Averages also hide the longer waits. Some figures elsewhere are quoted in calendar days and others in working days, so the safest way to describe the position is that official averages are now more than 100 days and individual decisions often take months.
What Access to Work does and does not do
GOV.UK describes Access to Work as a grant that can help pay for practical support, such as specialist equipment and software, support workers, travel and changes to the workplace, which includes the person’s home. It does not pay for reasonable adjustments that an employer is legally required to make, although it can advise the employer on whether a change should be treated as one. The grant does not need to be repaid, and some costs may have to be paid up front and claimed back.
That last point matters in practice. An employee who is struggling today will not be helped by a decision in the spring, and a manager who waits for the grant before changing anything may find that the simple adjustments were available all along.
Why waiting is not a neutral choice
When someone with sight loss is working with a screen they can barely read, or someone with hearing loss is guessing at what was said in every meeting, the cost is rarely visible on the day. It tends to appear later as tiredness, errors, reduced confidence, short-term absence or a conversation about performance. Each week without a plan makes that more likely, and none of it reflects on the person’s ability. It reflects a mismatch between the person, the job and the workplace that nobody has yet looked at properly.
What an employer can do this week
Many changes cost little and can be put in place while an application is pending. The right ones depend on the person, so start with a private conversation about which tasks and situations are hardest and what already helps. Then try a small number of changes, write them down and agree a date to review them.
For sight loss, that might mean checking lighting and glare, adjusting display settings and contrast, providing documents in a format the person can read, keeping the workspace consistent and agreeing how colleagues will say who they are and where things are. For hearing loss, it might mean agendas and papers in advance, one speaker at a time, captions switched on in online meetings, a quieter seat or room, and a written summary of decisions afterwards.
None of this replaces a proper assessment, and some changes will not suit a particular person, so treat them as a way of reducing strain while the right answer is worked out.
When a private workplace assessment makes sense
Access to Work is a government scheme with its own application and assessment process. A private Access to Work assessment is not a separate route into the scheme, and Visualise Training and Consultancy Ltd is an independent provider, not part of it. What a private workplace assessment offers is speed and a practical report the employer can act on straight away.
A visual impairment workplace assessment or a hearing loss workplace assessment looks at the person, the job and the workplace together. It sets out the barriers the person meets in specific tasks, the adjustments that could help, what each adjustment is for and what can happen first. Where someone is returning after absence, a return to work assessment can plan the adjustments before the first day back, and can recommend a phased return where that suits the person. The report may also be useful supporting information if an Access to Work application is made, although the scheme makes its own decisions and no outcome can be promised.
What this means for occupational health, HR and case managers
Three habits help. First, ask what can happen this week, not only what will be funded eventually. Second, do not tell an employee to wait, because the employer’s own duties do not depend on a grant decision. Third, apply for Access to Work early and in parallel, so that a decision is closer when the assessment recommends equipment or support. A report that names the barrier, the adjustment and the order of priority makes both the application and the day-to-day decisions easier.
Summary
Access to Work is valuable, but official average waits are now well over 100 days. Employers can reduce strain straight away with low-cost changes, a clear record and a review date. A private workplace assessment for sight loss or hearing loss can then give the employer a practical plan to follow while the application is processed.
Watch the short film
This short film follows a team leader whose colleague has sight loss and has applied to Access to Work. Told that decisions often take months, the team leader asks what makes the screen hardest to read, moves the desk away from the window, enlarges the text, sends documents in large print and circulates agendas the day before. None of it cost anything or needed anyone else’s decision. The film lasts just over a minute.
Frequently Asked Questions
The National Audit Office reported an average of 109 working days in November 2025, against a target of 25 days. Averages hide longer waits, so individual decisions can take months.
No. GOV.UK says it will not pay for adjustments an employer is legally required to make, although it can advise the employer on whether a change should be treated as one.
The phrase is used by people searching for an independent workplace assessment. It is separate from the government scheme. A private workplace assessment for visual impairment or hearing loss gives the employer practical recommendations without waiting for a scheme decision.
Yes. Many adjustments are low cost and do not depend on a grant. Agree them with the employee, write them down and set a review date.
In many cases yes, and early. A workplace assessment report may help show what support is needed, although the scheme decides each application for itself.
If you or someone in your team is visually impaired, deaf or has hearing loss and would like expert, tailored support to stay productive and comfortable at work, you can arrange a workplace assessment with us.
Sources
National Audit Office, The Access to Work scheme: summary (February 2026): https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/the-access-to-work-scheme-summary.pdf
GOV.UK, Access to Work: https://www.gov.uk/access-to-work
Acas, Reasonable adjustments: https://www.acas.org.uk/reasonable-adjustments