Motion detail – Congress motions

Motion

Motion text: Access to Work is a DWP scheme to help workers obtain and stay in work if they have physical or mental health conditions or disabilities. Liaising with employers, funding can provide specialist equipment, support workers, the costs of travelling to work and physical adaptations. Without these resources, effective job performance is usually impossible. Congress notes the vital role that it has played in enabling disabled and neurodivergent UCU members to work effectively within further and higher education.
Congress notes that stakeholders, MPs and most recently the National Audit Office have identified serious and growing inefficiencies in the scheme’s operation. Members who depend on it have experienced a marked decline in the efficiency of Access to Work, including:
1. Long delays in responding to applications for support and in the provision of resources;
2. Poor communications, including failures to answer correspondence, very long delays in answering phone calls and receiving inappropriate responses, inconsistent and contradictory responses to requests;
3. Lack of clarity in institutions about how to action recommendations made by the scheme.
4. The closure of the dedicated telephone number for complaints.
Congress instructs the NEC to campaign for:
a. this essential service to become fit for purpose;
b. universities and colleges to provide full staff training in using this vital scheme effectively.