Demystifying Access to Work

00:02:13.300 –> 00:02:21.500
with the the chat function. So that’s brilliant. So, please do use
the chat in Zoom. Say hello. Let us know where you’re joining

16
00:02:21.500 –> 00:02:30.800
from make sure you set the the chat setting to “All”, otherwise, you’re
just talking to two of us panelists. So, yeah,

17
00:02:31.099 –> 00:02:38.599
please make sure you set it to “All” so you can speak to everyone. But
yeah, it’s been amazing to see this community grow over the last year

18
00:02:38.800 –> 00:02:46.500
and the conversations that we have on these calls are
fantastic. So yeah, please get involved as much as you can –

19
00:02:47.900 –> 00:02:54.300
great! So whilst everyone’s joining and before we really kick
things off, I’m going to tell you a little bit about about CareScribe,

20
00:02:54.300 –> 00:03:04.599
just tell you who we are, and you know, why we run these sessions. So
and my name is Rich and I’m one of the founders and directors of

21
00:03:04.599 –> 00:03:12.800
CareScribe. For those of you who haven’t heard of us before, we are
one of the UK’s leading assistive technology companies, we’re based in

22
00:03:12.800 –> 00:03:23.500
Bristol, myself and my other two founders, Chris and Tom, we’re all
neurodivergent, as are many of our team, and we spent every day

23
00:03:23.500 –> 00:03:33.400
working to support disabled and neurodivergent individuals to work
and study more independently, and we do that by building technology.

24
00:03:33.400 –> 00:03:42.599
That’s how we we try and affect change, and we have a couple of
software tools which you may have heard of or may even have used, one

25
00:03:42.599 –> 00:03:44.000
of them is called Caption.Ed, and the other is called TalkType.

26
00:03:49.400 –> 00:03:56.800
Caption.Ed is a piece of captioning and note-taking software designed to help people
better comprehend and retain some of the huge amounts of information

27
00:03:57.199 –> 00:04:05.300
that are thrown at us from lots of different directions in our busy
day to day lives. This is of course of tremendous value to a wide

28
00:04:05.300 –> 00:04:12.500
range of people, with a wide range of disabilities and neurodivergent
profiles, from those who are maybe deaf and or have hearing loss and

29
00:04:12.500 –> 00:04:20.899
struggle to comprehend what’s being said, and to those like me who are
dyslexic, or have ADHD, ASD, who may have similar difficulties or

30
00:04:20.899 –> 00:04:29.399
find it hard to retain information and stay focused. And so that’s
what Caption.Ed does, it really helps you to comprehend and retain some

31
00:04:29.399 –> 00:04:36.500
of that sort of that information and make some sense out of the noise
in our busy lives. And the other piece of software is called

32
00:04:36.500 –> 00:04:45.399
TalkType, which is a dictation tool which is helping people to
convert their thoughts into text, something which I and a wide range

33
00:04:45.399 –> 00:04:53.100
of people find very challenging for a wide range of reasons. If you
want to know any more about our assistive technology or CareScribe,

34
00:04:53.100 –> 00:05:00.300
feel free to pop a message in the in the chat and we’ll try and set
up a demo for you, also you can add add a request on to the feedback

35
00:05:00.300 –> 00:05:07.500
at the end and we’ll get in touch. Or there’s also a great opportunity
to see our software in action in a couple of weeks when my colleague

36
00:05:07.500 –> 00:05:15.199
Chris is going to be running a webinar called The Power of Assistive
Technology. Our Caption.Ed and TalkType can support neurodivergent people

37
00:05:15.199 –> 00:05:23.000
and people at work. So if that sounds of interest we’ll ping you an email
with some information about that and you’d be welcome to join that

38
00:05:23.000 –> 00:05:31.500
webinar, which is focused specifically on the software. Great, still
people joining, this is brilliant. As I say keep the chat going that’s

39
00:05:31.500 –> 00:05:40.399
that’s fantastic. Quick bit of housekeeping before we hand over to
Mark and get things rolling – if you’re not familiar

40
00:05:40.399 –> 00:05:48.899
with Zoom, captions are available, you can turn those on yourself. And
again, make sure you using the chat if you want to and and keep

41
00:05:48.899 –> 00:05:55.800
things moving and keep the conversation flowing. This is a very safe
space. So yeah, there’s no there’s no wrong questions. Make sure you

42
00:05:55.800 –> 00:06:02.699
ask ,and if you do find the chat distracting you can you
can turn that off yourself. If you’ve got some pertinent questions

43
00:06:02.699 –> 00:06:11.399
for myself or for Mark and if you can use the Q&A function of
Zoom for that pop your questions in there. We’ll have some time at

44
00:06:11.399 –> 00:06:17.899
the end to answer those specific questions and you can also if you
see someone else’s question and think “oh I want I want an answer to

45
00:06:17.899 –> 00:06:25.899
that” you can upvote it and then we’ll try and make sure we get to
it. So either pop your question in there or upvote other people’s

46
00:06:25.899 –> 00:06:32.800
questions and we’ll have some time at the end. We don’t always get through
all the questions at the end, because we often get quite a lot, but

47
00:06:32.800 –> 00:06:39.199
if we don’t get to your question, don’t worry we will get to it and
we’ll send it in the post-event email, we’ll send all the answers

48
00:06:39.399 –> 00:06:48.199
across and yeah, no question is a wrong question. And so yeah, please do
ask and if you’d like a certificate of attendance, then after the

49
00:06:48.199 –> 00:06:54.699
webinar we’ll send a feedback form, and if you fill that out and in
there you can request a certificate, so please make sure you do that.

50
00:06:54.899 –> 00:07:05.399
And this session is being recorded. You’ll be sent that
recording after the session in the post-event email and

51
00:07:05.399 –> 00:07:14.600
they’ll be a link on social media too. Brill! So final few bits for
me before we hand over to Mark and we’re going to be at the Dyslexia

52
00:07:14.600 –> 00:07:21.899
Show at the NEC at the end of next week – gosh that’s crept up! And so if you’re
there then please come and see us. I know neurobox are also

53
00:07:21.899 –> 00:07:28.100
there. So I don’t know if Mark plans to be there, but yeah come
and say hi and it’s going to be a great event. And finally another

54
00:07:28.100 –> 00:07:38.500
date for your diary, and the next month’s Skill Sessions is
already being planned and we’re going to be covering, uncovering

55
00:07:38.500 –> 00:07:44.800
even, reasonable adjustments for neurodiversity in the workplace. And
that’s on Tuesday the 9th of April, but we’ll send all this

56
00:07:44.800 –> 00:07:53.399
information over to you. So don’t worry about it. So without further
ado, I’m going to hand over to our guest Mark, as I say Mark is the

57
00:07:53.399 –> 00:08:01.300
head of our occupational delivery at neurobox. For more than a
decade Mark’s been working with organisations, managers, employees, to

58
00:08:01.399 –> 00:08:10.000
support neurodiversity and disability, and not just how to support
individuals but their managers in the organisations too, so he’s going

59
00:08:10.000 –> 00:08:21.399
to share some of that knowledge and experience with us as we dive into
all things Access To Work. So over to you Mark! Thank you very much

60
00:08:21.399 –> 00:08:34.299
Rich. So I’m going to share my screen because unsurprisingly I’ve got
some slides for people. So let me just click the right button there, and

61
00:08:34.899 –> 00:08:43.799
hopefully everyone can see a big blue slide now. Okay, I’m sure
somebody will tell me if you can’t. So thank you ever so much for

62
00:08:43.799 –> 00:08:52.500
joining us. It’s really great to be able to talk to so many people
and a little bit scary as well. Okay, so we’re going to have a little

63
00:08:52.500 –> 00:09:01.000
bit of a dive into this thing called Access To Work today. But before
we do that, Let me just tell you a little bit about myself and the

64
00:09:01.000 –> 00:09:10.299
organisation I work for so as which said and I work for a company
called neurobox. Essentially, we support organisations to support

65
00:09:10.299 –> 00:09:18.500
their disabled and neurodivergent people and we do that in a number
of different ways. Generally sort of three kinds of levels in an

66
00:09:18.500 –> 00:09:27.299
organisation: at the top of an organisation looking at policies and
processes and things like that, on an individual level with employees

67
00:09:27.299 –> 00:09:35.399
looking at workplace needs, assessments training all that sort of stuff.
But also crucially in the middle working with line managers

68
00:09:36.000 –> 00:09:44.500
helping the people on the on the front line of policies, if you like,
to actually manage these situations and have these challenging types

69
00:09:44.500 –> 00:09:54.100
of conversations. So various different levels. Myself, personally, as
Rich said I’ve been in this space now for more than a decade. In

70
00:09:54.100 –> 00:10:00.700
fact, actually, I think it’s – it’s a little bit more than a decade.
I’m not even going to depress myself by working out the

71
00:10:00.700 –> 00:10:07.700
numbers, but for a while, and I’ve got a few different hats and I work
with organisations on all of those sorts of levels that we talked

72
00:10:07.700 –> 00:10:13.899
about before and I will be at the Dyslexia show as well. I’ve been
roped into doing some speaking there too.

74
00:10:16.299 –> 00:10:26.000
So Access To Work, sometimes known as the governments best kept
secret. Okay, we’re going to have a go at sort of demystifying it a

75
00:10:26.000 –> 00:10:34.799
little bit today and just sort of answering some of the many many
questions that come up about Access To Work. Questions like “what is

76
00:10:34.799 –> 00:10:42.299
Access To Work? Is it for me? Does it cost anything?” – all these sorts of
things. So we’re gonna go through this, ask a few

77
00:10:42.299 –> 00:10:44.299
questions as we go through.

78
00:10:46.700 –> 00:10:55.399
Any questions that you have that we don’t answer during this or that
we don’t discuss as Rich said, please put them in the Q&A and and

79
00:10:55.399 –> 00:11:04.200
we will get to them. Okay, we’re going to leave some time after this
as well to go through some too. But let’s kick off a little bit with

80
00:11:04.200 –> 00:11:13.399
with Access To Work. So let’s start with the basics. What
actually is Access To Work? Access To Work is a government scheme

81
00:11:13.700 –> 00:11:23.299
public funded grant essentially to support organisations to support
their disabled people and neurodifferent people, in work to stay in

82
00:11:23.299 –> 00:11:32.299
work. Even to move into self employment and start a business. That’s
something that we see quite a lot of actually, one thing to just

83
00:11:32.299 –> 00:11:41.500
notice about this though, is that Access To Work isn’t there to help
with business startup costs. It’s to support an individual with their

84
00:11:41.500 –> 00:11:52.100
needs to start a business if that makes sense. Access To Work has been
around for awhile since 1994. So I want to say so about 10 years now,

85
00:11:52.100 –> 00:12:00.200
and if anybody tells me it’s nearly 30 years I’m just going to refuse to
listen, alright, cause I’m not that old. It’s administrated and

86
00:12:00.200 –> 00:12:11.299
managed by the Department for Work and Pensions via the Jobcentre Plus
network. And the idea of Access To Work is that it’s to financially

87
00:12:11.299 –> 00:12:20.000
support the employee and the employer with some of the adjustments
that people may need as a result of a disability.

89
00:12:22.899 –> 00:12:31.200
There’s also another string to Access To Work as well, which is this
relatively recent, but there’s a mental health support element to

90
00:12:31.200 –> 00:12:40.399
Access To Work as well. So if an individual it is off work, worried
about losing a job, just struggling to cope. They do have

91
00:12:40.399 –> 00:12:53.100
some support mechanisms in place to help in that area as well. So
Access To Work is is a really great scheme. You may have heard lots

92
00:12:53.100 –> 00:13:00.899
of things about Access To Work, not all of them great. It takes
a long time. There’s lots of hoops to jump through etc. And to a

93
00:13:00.899 –> 00:13:09.700
degree, that’s all that’s all relatively true. But at the same time
we are one of the very few countries in the world that has such a

94
00:13:09.700 –> 00:13:20.600
scheme and we are really really lucky to have it and it
works really well when it works. So let’s ask the first question

95
00:13:20.600 –> 00:13:31.200
that most people want to know is that: am I eligible? And the honest
answer to that is usually yes, if you have a disability or a

96
00:13:31.200 –> 00:13:41.299
long-term health condition which falls under the definition of
disability, which we’ll look at in a second, and you need adjustments

97
00:13:42.399 –> 00:13:53.100
you are going to qualify for Access To Work. We also get asked
sometimes well – neurodiversity? Yeah, I’m dyslexic. I’m not

98
00:13:53.100 –> 00:14:05.000
disabled. Does it apply to me? And again neurodifference, almost
always falls under the definition of disability. Okay, I’m speaking

99
00:14:05.000 –> 00:14:13.000
of someone who’s dyslexic. I don’t consider myself disabled, if I
have forms to fill out with a tick box that says “Do you have a

100
00:14:13.000 –> 00:14:23.100
disability?” I never tick that box. I’m not disabled. I’m dyslexic,
but that debate aside, under the terms of the Equality Act, I do meet

101
00:14:23.100 –> 00:14:33.100
the definition of disability as a neurodifferent person. And that
definition of disability is: if you have a physical or mental

102
00:14:33.100 –> 00:14:40.399
impairment, and I’m not sure what sort of impairment exists if it’s
not physical or mental, but anyway, if you have a physical or mental

103
00:14:40.399 –> 00:14:50.700
impairment that has a substantial and long-term negative effect on
your ability to do normal daily activities then you are meeting the

104
00:14:50.700 –> 00:15:01.799
definition of disability, so neurodiversity falls within that
definition. Okay, and what’s really important to notice is

105
00:15:01.799 –> 00:15:10.700
that actually this goes for all disabilities not just neuro
differences. But formal diagnosis is not required to fall under the

106
00:15:10.700 –> 00:15:19.399
definition of disability. Okay, and that’s something that comes up
quite a lot. What does substantial mean? Substantial is an interesting

107
00:15:19.399 –> 00:15:28.200
one. I looked at one definition of substantial and the definition I
got back was “not insubstantial” which was really helpful. It’s a bit

108
00:15:28.200 –> 00:15:39.000
gray and fuzzy and purposely so, but essentially it means more than
more than trivial. Okay, long term is easier to do, to determine, long

109
00:15:39.000 –> 00:15:50.799
term means 12 months. So if your illness, condition, neurodifference
has lasted more than 12 months or is likely to last more than 12

110
00:15:50.799 –> 00:16:00.299
months, it meets this definition and of course with neurodiversity,
neurodifferences, we’re born with them, they are most definitely

111
00:16:00.399 –> 00:16:12.600
Long-term. Normal daily activities: going to work is classed as a normal
daily activity. So essentially what we’re saying here is that

112
00:16:12.600 –> 00:16:24.899
anything that has an effect, a long-term negative effect, on your
ability to go to work will class you as disabled. So things like

113
00:16:24.899 –> 00:16:36.500
dyslexia, ADHD, etc. will almost always meet the definition of
disability under the Equality Act. So if you do meet that definition

114
00:16:36.500 –> 00:16:41.299
of disability, you will be eligible for Access To Work support.

115
00:16:43.700 –> 00:16:54.500
Like with all things in life – there is some small print alright, and
and the small print around this isn’t anything particularly onerous.

116
00:16:54.500 –> 00:17:03.000
So you need to be 16 or over, not unreasonable, unlikely that you’re
going to be in work if you’re not 16 or over. You need to be in or

117
00:17:03.000 –> 00:17:07.099
about to start work and this includes being self-employed as well.

118
00:17:09.599 –> 00:17:18.599
You need to be normally resident in England, Scotland, or Wales, people
from other EU countries are eligible as well as long as they’ve got

119
00:17:18.599 –> 00:17:28.099
work permits and so on and so forth. But normally you need to be
living in the country. Some benefits can restrict the amount of

120
00:17:28.099 –> 00:17:38.500
Access To Work you may be eligible for. It’s a bit of a moving
thing. So it’s something that I’m not going to pin figures on or

121
00:17:38.500 –> 00:17:46.900
anything here, but just be aware that there are certain benefits
that can restrict the amount of Access To Work that you can get.

122
00:17:46.900 –> 00:18:00.099
Trainees, interns, apprentices are also eligible as long as they’re
part of a recognised scheme. Okay, and funding might be limited if

123
00:18:00.099 –> 00:18:08.299
you’re regularly traveling outside of the of England, Scotland, and
Wales. So the Access To Work is designed to support people with

124
00:18:08.299 –> 00:18:14.799
work within England Scotland and Wales. So if you’re somebody
that’s regularly in traveling to the States, for example, as part of

125
00:18:14.799 –> 00:18:25.299
your role, then your support is unlikely to extend to the time
that you’re abroad. And the final one is specifically for civil

126
00:18:25.299 –> 00:18:33.700
servants. If you are a civil servant you do not qualify for access to
work. Okay. There are some quite complicated legal reasons why that

127
00:18:33.700 –> 00:18:41.000
is but that doesn’t mean that support is not available for you. If
you’re a civil servant, support is still there. There are just

128
00:18:41.000 –> 00:18:49.299
different pathways to access that support. So that’s the small print
and there’s nothing in there that’s particularly onerous or scary or

129
00:18:49.299 –> 00:18:50.599
unreasonable. I don’t think.

130
00:18:54.799 –> 00:18:56.900
What type of support is available?

131
00:19:00.200 –> 00:19:10.500
The Equality Act says that if an employee has a disability then an
organisation is obligated to make reasonable adjustments, and those

132
00:19:10.500 –> 00:19:22.900
adjustments can be absolutely anything, from flexibility around
start times, through adjustments that cost money, for example bits

133
00:19:22.900 –> 00:19:31.599
of software or equipment. Now, Access To Work is designed to help
organisations with those adjustments that cost money. So the

134
00:19:31.599 –> 00:19:45.500
sorts of things Access To Work are looking at funding are things like:
assistive technology, software, equipment, communication support for

135
00:19:45.500 –> 00:19:54.000
interview. So for example for someone who is perhaps deaf and they
may need a sign language interpreter in an interview for example,

136
00:19:54.400 –> 00:20:06.700
Access To Work will fund those sorts of things. Adaptations to
premises or to vehicles, travel either to work or in work, and that’s

137
00:20:06.700 –> 00:20:15.799
something that we see quite a lot, and that is usually for people with
sort of physical restrictions around travel whether that be sort of

138
00:20:15.799 –> 00:20:24.799
musculoskeletal or whether it be sensory, like someone who’s blind for
example, but it can also be there to support people with some neuro-

139
00:20:24.799 –> 00:20:33.299
differences. Like for example, autism, who may find it extremely
challenging to catch the rush-hour tube train to get to work on

140
00:20:33.299 –> 00:20:44.700
time for example. Access To Work will fund alternative ways of
travel. Support workers again, a really really great adjustment for

141
00:20:44.700 –> 00:20:55.099
some people and support workers can mean all sorts of different
things from somebody who will help, for example, the

142
00:20:55.099 –> 00:21:05.599
administration side of a person’s role all the way through to someone
who makes support with travel arrangements that sort of thing. And as

143
00:21:05.599 –> 00:21:13.299
I mentioned before the mental health support services well, which is
a really really important add-on. So those are all the sorts of

144
00:21:13.299 –> 00:21:22.200
adjustments that we can be looking at with Access To Work. And that’s
just a few examples. There are many many others and Access To Work

145
00:21:22.200 –> 00:21:30.299
quite good in that they don’t necessarily have a defined catalog of
what they will or won’t look at in my experience they’re quite open to

146
00:21:30.299 –> 00:21:31.599
exploring different things.

147
00:21:34.299 –> 00:21:45.200
But as an organisation, how do we determine what is a reasonable
adjustment? And one of the important things that I want to sort of

148
00:21:45.200 –> 00:21:58.099
mention with regards to Access To Work and and reasonable adjustments
is that Access To Work will advise an organisation on adjustments, but

149
00:21:58.200 –> 00:22:07.900
only really on adjustments for which they provide funding. There will
be other adjustments that an organisation can make to support an

150
00:22:07.900 –> 00:22:15.099
individual that don’t cost money or require funding. For
example, as I mentioned before maybe sort of flexibility around

151
00:22:15.099 –> 00:22:22.700
start/finish times, maybe an allowance to work from home a little
bit more often, those sorts of things. Now, they don’t require funding

152
00:22:22.700 –> 00:22:34.400
so Access To Work are not going to advise you as an organisation, but
they could be considered. Okay, just to confuse things a little bit, Access

153
00:22:34.400 –> 00:22:43.400
to work call those types of adjustments, the ones for which they
don’t require funding, they call them reasonable adjustments, but in

154
00:22:43.400 –> 00:22:52.700
reality any adjustment that is made is a reasonable adjustment.
Okay, so I just want to sort of clarify that because that’s a

155
00:22:52.700 –> 00:23:01.200
misunderstanding that comes up quite frequently, but with regards to
the word “reasonable” if you are asked for an adjustment by an

156
00:23:01.200 –> 00:23:09.599
employee, whether that be through a piece of equipment or whether it
may be to work from home a little bit longer than normal. How do you

157
00:23:09.599 –> 00:23:18.700
as an organisation work out whether that it’s a reasonable request
or not? And the honest answer is it’s really difficult. Okay,

158
00:23:18.900 –> 00:23:25.200
and it’s going to be different for different organisations and
different roles. But there are a couple of questions that you can ask

159
00:23:25.200 –> 00:23:33.599
yourself that what might actually help clarify what’s reasonable and
what’s not reasonable, and those questions are first of all, “how much

160
00:23:33.599 –> 00:23:40.500
of a difference is this adjustment actually going to make to this
person?”. Is it the difference between just making one aspect of the

161
00:23:40.500 –> 00:23:46.900
job a little bit easier or is it the difference between them being
able to do their job or not. How important is its adjustment to them?

162
00:23:47.099 –> 00:23:54.299
Secondly, how practical is it going to be to put this into place? Is
it going to mean a major reorganisation or is it just going to be

163
00:23:54.299 –> 00:24:03.400
slightly inconvenient? The third question, is how affordable is it?
Not how much does it cost, how affordable is it? And that question, the

164
00:24:03.400 –> 00:24:12.400
threshold for that is it’s obviously fairly low because the chances
are that Access To Work are going to provide some funding for it as

165
00:24:12.400 –> 00:24:22.799
well. And finally, the final question to ask, is will this adjustment
affect other people’s health and safety? Health and safety overrules

166
00:24:22.799 –> 00:24:31.200
everything right? So those are four questions that an organisation
can sort of explore to help them make a decision whether or not an

167
00:24:31.200 –> 00:24:35.299
adjustment may be reasonable or not. Hope that helps.

168
00:24:37.599 –> 00:24:49.200
Okay. Another question that comes up quite a lot is: Will I have to
pay anything? Now as an employee, the answer is almost always no.

169
00:24:49.500 –> 00:24:57.900
Okay, if you’re an employee, if you’re self-employed, if you need help
in job interviews, you will not be asked to make any contribution

170
00:24:58.000 –> 00:25:08.400
whatsoever. And as I put on this slide, the only exception to that is
if you are going to gain some benefit from this adjustment outside

171
00:25:08.400 –> 00:25:18.299
of work. Okay, personally, I can’t think I’ve ever come across an
instance of that but it’s there, so not unreasonable. So generally

172
00:25:18.299 –> 00:25:28.500
speaking if you’re an employee, or self-employed, no you do not have
to pay anything at all. What about employers? As an employer will I

173
00:25:28.500 –> 00:25:39.599
have to pay anything? That’s a little bit more complicated? Okay, but
there are some hard and fast rules. First of all, if the employee

174
00:25:40.500 –> 00:25:49.099
is new, in other words if they’ve been employed for less than six
weeks when they apply, then as an employer no, there is no

175
00:25:49.099 –> 00:25:57.799
contribution that you need to make whatsoever. It’s entirely funded,
any adjustments or the recommended, will be entirely funded and there

176
00:25:57.799 –> 00:26:02.000
is no contribution at all for any of the mental health support
services.

178
00:26:04.200 –> 00:26:14.900
Outside of that – so if the employee has been employed for more than
six weeks when they apply, you will have to make a contribution as the

179
00:26:14.900 –> 00:26:28.900
employer and that contribution varies depending on the size of your
organisation. Okay, very very basically, the larger the organisation the

180
00:26:28.900 –> 00:26:30.599
more you’re expected to pay.

181
00:26:33.900 –> 00:26:42.599
If you were relatively small organisation and that’s classed as up to
49 employees, then you will be expected to pay the first twenty

182
00:26:42.599 –> 00:26:51.700
percent of anything that’s recommended. Okay, so if there’s a bit of
software recommended for say, 500 pounds, bit of equipment recommended

183
00:26:51.700 –> 00:27:03.000
for 1,000 pounds, that’s 1,500 pounds. You’ll be expected to pay 20%
of that which is 300 pounds, Access To Work will pay the rest, and

184
00:27:03.000 –> 00:27:13.500
there is a ceiling – you won’t be asked to pay any more than 10,000
pounds. Okay by sorting 20% of 10,000 pounds is the ceiling. If you’re

185
00:27:13.500 –> 00:27:23.099
medium size, fifty to two hundred and forty nine employees, it
goes up to 500 pounds, plus the twenty percent. So the rules are still

186
00:27:23.099 –> 00:27:34.799
the same, but you’ll also have to pay an additional 500 pounds. A
larger employees 250 plus again exactly the same 20% but you’ll also

187
00:27:34.799 –> 00:27:45.200
be expected to contribute an additional 1,000 pounds. So the the
logic is, that the larger the organisation the the better the ability

188
00:27:45.200 –> 00:27:51.099
to make a contribution. So the greater the contribution is expected.
That’s essentially it, okay.

190
00:27:55.400 –> 00:28:08.500
Now how does this work in practice? So let’s take – you know
what? Let’s take a story. How does Access To Work actually work in

191
00:28:08.500 –> 00:28:14.700
real life? So we’re going to we’re going to give you a sort of an
example. So I want you to meet Charlie.

193
00:28:17.099 –> 00:28:30.599
Charlie’s just started a new role. Okay. Now Charlie has suspected
ADHD, but doesn’t have a formal diagnosis. That’s quite normal. As I

194
00:28:30.599 –> 00:28:40.900
said before a formal diagnosis is not required. Okay, and and there
are many reasons for that but you won’t ever be asked to prove

195
00:28:40.900 –> 00:28:54.299
disability and that’s really really good because the certain – ADHD
okay in my area of the country at the moment, the waiting list for an

196
00:28:54.299 –> 00:29:06.500
ADHD diagnosis is currently sitting at five years. Now if I needed
that formal diagnosis in order to get support in my job, I would

197
00:29:06.500 –> 00:29:16.500
either have to go and fund a private assessment, which by the way is
still likely to take a couple of years, or I’ve got to wait five

198
00:29:16.500 –> 00:29:25.900
years. So essentially I’ve got to survive five years without any
support before I’m eligible. So it’s a great thing that a formal

199
00:29:25.900 –> 00:29:36.000
diagnosis is not required. It can sometimes be concerning for
organisations if a formal diagnosis is not required because they

200
00:29:36.000 –> 00:29:43.200
will ask questions like reasonable questions. Like for example, well
how do I know what the disability is? How do I know if this person is

201
00:29:43.200 –> 00:29:46.900
dyslexic or if this person has ADHD etc.? Okay,

202
00:29:49.000 –> 00:29:58.799
and I understand that question. But also at the same time I would
suggest also that actually the diagnosis although really really

203
00:29:58.799 –> 00:30:08.700
helpful, is not the most important part of this equation. If you have
an employee that is struggling in their role, or with certain aspects

204
00:30:08.700 –> 00:30:17.000
of the role and there are some things that you can put in place to
support that employee, does it matter what the diagnosis is? Let’s

205
00:30:17.000 –> 00:30:28.000
look at getting those adjustments in place. Okay, so formal
diagnosis is not required. Let’s say for argument’s sake, that

206
00:30:28.000 –> 00:30:34.799
Charlie’s on the on the waiting list at the moment for a formal
diagnosis. But at the moment there isn’t one there, but she’s starting

207
00:30:34.799 –> 00:30:44.099
this new role. Now Charlie is concerned that their ADHD might affect
them in that role and they really really want to do well in this job.

208
00:30:44.400 –> 00:30:53.299
Okay, Charlie’s new manager has done a great job of welcoming Charlie
in and being supportive and that’s essentially meant that Charlie

209
00:30:53.299 –> 00:31:06.500
feels comfortable talking to their manager about their ADHD. Now
that’s really really important because without that feeling of safety,

210
00:31:06.500 –> 00:31:17.400
of security, a new employee is naturally going to be reticent about
stepping forward and saying actually “I need some extra things”.

211
00:31:17.599 –> 00:31:26.500
Alright, it’s much more likely that that employee is going to stay
quiet and kind of see how things work out. Okay, at least until I

212
00:31:26.500 –> 00:31:35.700
know the organisation better, I know my manager better and I feel a
little bit more comfortable talking about this stuff. So having that

213
00:31:35.700 –> 00:31:44.799
safe environment, having that sort of feeling of inclusivity if you
like, is a really really important thing for organisations to

214
00:31:44.799 –> 00:31:54.400
cultivate. It means that people are more comfortable stepping forward
earlier, and that means I think two really important things. One: it

215
00:31:54.400 –> 00:32:03.799
means that that employee gets their support earlier. It means that
they’re not going to wait for things to start going wrong before the

216
00:32:03.799 –> 00:32:12.099
reasons are looked at and support is put in place. It also means that
if that employee applies for Access To Work within the first six

217
00:32:12.099 –> 00:32:21.700
weeks of their employment, as an organisation, you won’t have to
contribute anything to the funding. So that environment is

218
00:32:21.700 –> 00:32:34.299
really important. So good work, Charlie’s manager. Okay. Now
Charlie’s manager knows about Access To Work. So he signposts

219
00:32:34.299 –> 00:32:42.400
Charlie to Access To Work and explains to Charlie what Access To Work
is all about, and suggests that she apply. Now again, this is an

220
00:32:42.400 –> 00:32:52.500
important point because an organisation can’t apply for access to
work even though the funding exists to help the organisation. The

221
00:32:52.500 –> 00:33:04.799
application process is owned by the employee. It’s the employee that
applies for Access To Work. And it’s not difficult to do, there’s a

222
00:33:04.799 –> 00:33:13.299
really great website. If you were to Google or type in Access To Work
into your favourite search engine, the government, the Access To Work

223
00:33:13.299 –> 00:33:24.000
website is pretty much definitely going to be the first one on the
page and within that website, it’s relatively straightforward. However,

224
00:33:24.900 –> 00:33:36.900
someone with neurodiversity, filling out forms, starting
processes can be extremely difficult. And the person is likely to

225
00:33:36.900 –> 00:33:44.000
procrastinate a lot, will begin the process and then be asked a
question they don’t have the answer for go away and never come back.

226
00:33:44.000 –> 00:33:54.599
So it can be quite a daunting process for people to do. So as an
organisation, as Charlie’s manager if you like, it can be a really

227
00:33:54.599 –> 00:34:01.099
great thing to actually support that employee through that journey,
through that process.

229
00:34:03.900 –> 00:34:12.500
But let’s say that Charlie has done this, Charlie’s manager has helped
through the process and Charlie has made that initial application on

230
00:34:12.500 –> 00:34:24.400
the Access To Work website, which incidentally consists of filling out a
relatively short issue form. The next step is that Access To Work

231
00:34:24.699 –> 00:34:34.500
will arrange a call with Charlie, a phone call, and it’s essentially
just to go through the form that Charlie’s filled out online,

232
00:34:34.500 –> 00:34:45.400
just to sort of clarify what’s been put in
the form, double check some information, and at that point a date

233
00:34:45.400 –> 00:34:59.000
will be agreed for a proper workplace needs assessment. And that
workplace needs assessment will be offered either via telephone, via

234
00:34:59.199 –> 00:35:11.000
Teams, or Zoom or in person. Okay, traditionally before before the
apocalypse, it was always in person, an Access To Work assessor will

235
00:35:11.000 –> 00:35:18.699
come out and visit you in your workplace and carry out this
assessment. Nowadays, I think probably it’s fair to say that the vast

236
00:35:18.699 –> 00:35:31.000
majority of carried out remotely or over the phone. So a date and a
method for this assessment is agreed with Charlie. The next step is

237
00:35:31.000 –> 00:35:39.699
that the Access To Work assessment actually takes place.
So in Charlie this case, it’s over the telephone. What does an

238
00:35:39.699 –> 00:35:48.599
assessment look like? So assessments. Access To Work assessments
typically take around 30 minutes, around half an hour. Okay there are

239
00:35:48.599 –> 00:35:56.199
going to be exceptions to that, some will take longer and so on and so
forth, but typically around half an hour and the assessor is going

240
00:35:56.199 –> 00:36:07.900
to ask Charlie all about their role. All what their role consists of,
the sort of responsibilities and their duties within that role, even

241
00:36:07.900 –> 00:36:19.800
down to the depth of what type of applications and computer programs
are you using for your role? The learn about Charlie’s own strengths

242
00:36:19.800 –> 00:36:28.500
and challenges. And they’ll build a really really sort of detailed
picture of what work at life looks like for Charlie.

244
00:36:31.099 –> 00:36:43.000
From that, the assessor will then go away and put together a report.
That report will detail everything that the assessor and Charlie spoke

245
00:36:43.000 –> 00:36:54.000
about and it will make suggestions for adjustments that Access To Work
are prepared to fund and that the assessor believes will support

246
00:36:54.000 –> 00:37:02.599
Charlie in that role. Okay. And as I said, those sort of
recommendations will look at all sorts of things that we spoke about

247
00:37:02.599 –> 00:37:15.199
before, that Access To Work fund. Okay, so it might be pieces of
equipment, maybe perhaps some furniture a desk for example, can

248
00:37:15.199 –> 00:37:27.400
be a really really great adjustment for somebody with ADHD. It may be
training, and that could be awareness training for Charlie’s

249
00:37:28.000 –> 00:37:36.900
colleagues and manager to help them get a better understanding of
Charlie’s disability and neurodifference. It might be coaching –

250
00:37:36.900 –> 00:37:47.199
coaching is a really important adjustment for people with
neurodifference. Coaching is where that employee will spend time with

251
00:37:47.199 –> 00:37:57.300
with a coach, that’s also an expert in that particular disability or
neurodifference, and that coach will work with Charlie, just to help

252
00:37:57.300 –> 00:38:08.699
develop ways of working, strategies to support Charlie in their role.
The sorts of things that coaching cover can vary immensely

253
00:38:08.699 –> 00:38:17.099
depending on the individual and the role etc. Workplace
coaching is something I’ve done an awful lot of in my time. I’m

254
00:38:17.099 –> 00:38:24.900
actually a coaching supervisor these days. I’ve worked with people on
all sorts of things from very very straightforward things – like how

255
00:38:24.900 –> 00:38:33.800
do I manage the 300 emails I get every day, all the way through to –
had a really interesting once actually which I don’t mind sharing

256
00:38:33.800 –> 00:38:43.199
quickly. I’ve worked with a library assistant who got coaching
through Access To Work and when we sat down and spoke with her and

257
00:38:43.199 –> 00:38:52.800
also her manager one of the big difficulties that came forward was
that this particular person was just not getting through their list

258
00:38:52.800 –> 00:39:02.400
of tasks each day. And this was because they spent way too long
talking to the library users. And we have to explore that, and it

259
00:39:02.400 –> 00:39:11.400
turned out that the reason for this was that this particular person
just found it very difficult to end conversations. People would come

260
00:39:11.400 –> 00:39:18.300
into the library looking for a conversation and a chat and she would
stand there for ages talking to them about everything, and she didn’t want

261
00:39:18.300 –> 00:39:26.599
to be rude by saying that she had things to do. So part of their
coaching, was exploring that and developing strategies and methods for

262
00:39:26.599 –> 00:39:35.400
how to do that in a way that felt comfortable for them. So coaching can cover
absolutely any aspect of a role which is why it’s very difficult to

263
00:39:35.400 –> 00:39:44.500
explain exactly what coaching is because it’s very different. But it’s
a really important adjustment that Access To Work fund. Assistive

264
00:39:44.500 –> 00:39:52.000
technology – another really important thing. There are so many
applications out there and and Rich mentioned a couple that

265
00:39:52.000 –> 00:39:59.599
CareScribe do, really really important applications that can support
people in all sorts of different aspects of their role and again

266
00:39:59.599 –> 00:40:09.900
Access To Work will fund these as well. So this report will turn up.
A few days later, optimistically, hopefully, okay and Charlie gets

267
00:40:09.900 –> 00:40:14.599
that report, that report goes to Charlie. Not the employer. It’s
Charlie’s report.

269
00:40:17.199 –> 00:40:26.099
And the other thing that this report will also do is that for every
single recommendation every single adjustment that it suggests, it

270
00:40:26.099 –> 00:40:33.500
will also point you toward an organisation that can provide that
adjustment and an idea of the costing.

272
00:40:37.300 –> 00:40:48.000
The next thing that happens is that Charlie meets with her manager to
go through this report. Now in this case, the manager agrees to

273
00:40:48.000 –> 00:40:56.500
implement all of the suggestions that are in that report, but it’s
important to know that an organisation doesn’t have to agree to

274
00:40:56.500 –> 00:41:07.300
implement all of those suggestions. They are suggestions. The
decision as to whether or not a suggestion / adjustment is reasonable

275
00:41:07.699 –> 00:41:15.800
or not, is always going to be down to the organisation. It’s always
the organisations right to decide if something is reasonable

276
00:41:15.800 –> 00:41:24.500
or not. That may well be tested at some other point, but it’s not for
Access To Work to say you’ve got to do this. It’s always going to be

277
00:41:24.500 –> 00:41:33.400
the employees choice. In this case, the manager agrees to implement
all of the things that are in the report and also discusses with

278
00:41:33.400 –> 00:41:40.000
Charlie if there’s anything else that the company can do to support.
Another really important thing, because as I mentioned earlier this

279
00:41:40.000 –> 00:41:48.699
Access To Work report is really only interested in the sorts of
adjustments for which funding is available. Okay, things like

280
00:41:48.699 –> 00:41:56.000
starting a bit later for example, flexible breaks and so on and so
forth – Access To Work are typically not going to be interested in

281
00:41:56.099 –> 00:42:02.599
that’s up to you as an organisation to work out. So Charlie
has that conversation with their manager as well and they look at

282
00:42:02.599 –> 00:42:13.900
other areas of support. So the next step is to actually get this in
place. Now any organisation could go off to all the different

283
00:42:13.900 –> 00:42:24.400
suppliers that are listed in that Access To Work report, but in
this case Charles organisation decides to just go to one single

284
00:42:24.400 –> 00:42:34.699
organisation. Okay, somebody like perhaps, neurobots, and source
everything from one supplier, and there’s many many advantages for

285
00:42:34.699 –> 00:42:42.199
doing this, okay. 1 – if you’re getting everything from one place,
typically, you’re only going to have to deal with one invoice, one

286
00:42:42.199 –> 00:42:50.599
purchase order, admin costs, and time goes right down, but also there’s
a really good chance that many of these organisations that have been

287
00:42:50.599 –> 00:42:57.800
recommended to supplies, your organisation will never have worked
with before so there may be some hoops to jump through, around

288
00:42:57.800 –> 00:43:07.099
creating new accounts, due diligence, and all that sort of thing as
well. Having one single supplier makes that process a lot easier. Also

289
00:43:07.199 –> 00:43:18.000
from a logistical point of view, and we’ve been asked as providers to
deliver some training on a piece of software that’s been recommended

290
00:43:18.000 –> 00:43:26.199
but not the software. Okay, that’s great. No problem at all happy to
do that, we’ll agree a training date fantastic. Our trainer will arrive

291
00:43:26.199 –> 00:43:34.199
all ready to do the training to be told but ah, the software hasn’t
arrived yet. Again, all those sorts of things can be avoided if it’s

292
00:43:34.199 –> 00:43:40.900
all coming from one supplier. All right. So many many reasons for
single sourcing all of this stuff.

294
00:43:44.000 –> 00:43:52.199
Another thing that and again, this is something that we get asked to
do an awful lot as a single source supplier, is the support around

295
00:43:52.199 –> 00:44:02.800
this stuff. A lot of the assistive technology is going to be fairly
new to organisations IT departments. So very often there can be some

296
00:44:03.199 –> 00:44:12.300
some teething issues around compatibility and installation and things
like that. We’ve probably seen it all before and again, we’re there

297
00:44:12.300 –> 00:44:16.199
to support with all that side of things as well. So anyway,

298
00:44:18.699 –> 00:44:28.500
all the items are sourced. They’re all sourced from the single source
supplier, and it all turns up and is installed and implemented

299
00:44:28.500 –> 00:44:29.400
appropriately.

300
00:44:31.599 –> 00:44:42.099
Now the organisation at this point, has had to fund all of this. Okay,
they’ve paid for everything up front so far, but now the organisation

301
00:44:42.099 –> 00:44:53.300
can claim back the funding from Access To Work and they do this
simply by submitting the invoices and receipts, back to access to

302
00:44:53.300 –> 00:45:01.900
work. Up to a probably a couple of years ago, this was a very manual
process. It had to physically go through the physical post. Okay,

303
00:45:02.699 –> 00:45:12.300
there is now an online form that the invoices and receipts can be
submitted through, and so this is done, again a process that’s much

304
00:45:12.300 –> 00:45:21.099
easier if you’ve got one receipt of invoice rather than dozens of
them, but they are submitted up through and the organisation

305
00:45:21.099 –> 00:45:30.400
receives the funding back from Access To Work that they’re
Due. And as Charlie raised all this and applied early on in her

306
00:45:30.400 –> 00:45:38.300
employment within the six weeks, actually all of the funding is done.
Had it been a bit later than that, then they would have been granted

307
00:45:38.699 –> 00:45:50.300
the cost less their expected contribution. So that’s the
process of Access To Work. Okay. It actually does work quite well. One

308
00:45:50.300 –> 00:45:59.300
of the biggest complaints get about Access To Work is the time things
take and that is a difficulty. It’s got a lot better but it is one of

309
00:45:59.300 –> 00:46:07.900
the things that comes up, but as I said before, the process itself
isn’t too bad and we are really really lucky as a society that have

310
00:46:08.000 –> 00:46:17.599
such a thing as Access To Work. I’m just noticing the time. I’ve got
til 1.50 I believe, and I think we’re just about there

311
00:46:17.599 –> 00:46:29.199
now, so I’m going to finish my slideshow there. And I’m going to hand
back to Rich and and, well, we’ll look at

312
00:46:29.199 –> 00:46:35.099
some of the questions and and hopefully give you some answers. Okay,
so I’m going to stop sharing my screen at that point.

314
00:46:38.699 –> 00:46:47.400
Cheers Mark, thank you so much. That was yeah, that was fantastic. I
knew there was going to be lots of interest because well when you

315
00:46:47.400 –> 00:46:54.199
when you when you have to upgrade your Zoom license cause so many people
are signing up for the webinar, you know, you know that it’s going to

316
00:46:54.199 –> 00:47:00.199
be an interesting topic and looking at the Q&aA section. I think
we were sort of 10 minutes in and already had sort of 10

317
00:47:00.199 –> 00:47:10.400
questions. So we’ve got an awful lot of questions to get through, just
setting expectations. We won’t get through them all and please do

318
00:47:10.400 –> 00:47:19.599
upvote questions, you know that you may want answers to and we can try
and get to those as as a priority. And any questions we haven’t

319
00:47:19.599 –> 00:47:26.699
answered, don’t worry. We will answer them and we’ll ping
over a long list of questions and answers in the follow-up

320
00:47:26.699 –> 00:47:35.000
email. So we’ll get to everything. Yeah, really really interesting
questions. Let’s see, if we’ve got some answers. So Mark the top of the

321
00:47:35.000 –> 00:47:44.800
list and upvoted quite a lot, is “Is an employer legally obliged to make
the adjustments recommended by Access To Work?” somebody’s asked, and

322
00:47:44.900 –> 00:47:51.400
unfortunately, it’s quite common for staff to get pushback from that
from their managers. Yeah, it is and it’s a good question. It’s an

323
00:47:51.400 –> 00:47:53.400
important question and the answer is that

324
00:47:56.400 –> 00:48:08.400
an organisation is legally obliged to make reasonable adjustments.
Okay, but they are allowed to determine what the word reasonable

325
00:48:08.400 –> 00:48:18.500
means for that organisation. That means that if they think a
recommendation from Access To Work is unreasonable, they can choose

326
00:48:18.500 –> 00:48:30.699
not to implement it, that’s their right. Now that doesn’t mean the
organization is correct. Okay. Unfortunately, that’s only ever going

327
00:48:30.699 –> 00:48:41.400
to be tested and challenged in a tribunal. Okay, that’s that’s the
reality of it and there is no – unfortunately, there’s no there’s no

328
00:48:41.400 –> 00:48:48.300
set bunch of rules that you can put an adjustment through that will tell
you whether or not it’s reasonable or not. It’s always going to be a

329
00:48:48.300 –> 00:48:59.000
subjective decision and it goes back to those four questions that I
raised earlier on, around what is reasonable and this is one of the biggest

330
00:48:59.000 –> 00:49:11.300
sort of contentions. Now, I would suggest that if a professional needs
assessor who spends their life doing needs assessments for access to

331
00:49:11.300 –> 00:49:20.000
work as made a suggestion, you would be a brave organisation to say
that actually “I know better and this is an unreasonable suggestion”.

332
00:49:20.099 –> 00:49:30.199
You probably need very very sound reasoning to argue that case but it
happens. All right, but in answer to your question, unfortunately, no

333
00:49:30.199 –> 00:49:37.800
an organisation is not legally obligated to implement it just because
Access To Workers suggested it. They can make a decision that it’s an

334
00:49:37.800 –> 00:49:45.699
unreasonable adjustment, but at the same time an employee has the
right to challenge that decision in a tribunal.

336
00:49:47.900 –> 00:49:56.699
Amazing. Thank you Mark. I mean, yeah, and there’s often things that
you know are actually raised in the Q&A section and an

337
00:49:56.699 –> 00:50:03.900
interesting point, which there’s things that also play into whether
something is reasonable such as you know from a software perspective

338
00:50:04.099 –> 00:50:12.500
like information security, data protection GDPR. These things are like
really important for, from a security

339
00:50:12.500 –> 00:50:19.000
perspective in organisations, and it’s going to be more and more so.
That’s one of the

340
00:50:19.000 –> 00:50:27.900
reasons why the word reasonable is purposefully a little bit gray and
fuzzy, because it has to be subjective in for that organisation with

341
00:50:27.900 –> 00:50:35.500
the best will in the world, a workplace needs assessor, and I’m
speaking as a workplace needs assessor. We get a very small amount of

342
00:50:35.500 –> 00:50:45.000
time to have a snapshot of that organisation. We can’t possibly know
the details of an IT infrastructure, of their GDPR policies. Okay,

343
00:50:45.300 –> 00:50:53.300
we will always make recommendations with a good heart. Okay, we don’t
have the full picture. Which is why it’s important that an

344
00:50:53.300 –> 00:51:03.000
organisation is allowed to make those decisions. Absolutely. Yeah.
Thanks. Thanks Mark and next question from Lizzie is “Do you know what

345
00:51:03.000 –> 00:51:12.199
kind of things are available in the mental health support services
category?” A little bit. Yes. I’m not an expert on this branch of

346
00:51:12.199 –> 00:51:22.800
Access To Work, I have to admit, but they do provide a certain
number of talking therapy sessions. Okay,

348
00:51:25.500 –> 00:51:37.500
again, most of the sessions and the support they provide tend to be
online sort of web-based support, but for my understanding there is

349
00:51:37.500 –> 00:51:46.400
some proper talking therapy available. I don’t know how much or how easy
it is to access. Thanks. Thanks Mark. There’s a couple of them, bit of

350
00:51:46.500 –> 00:51:54.699
chat going on in the chat section as well. So hopefully
if people in the attendees know extra information –

351
00:51:55.199 –> 00:52:03.599
please pop it in. It’s not an area that I’m particularly well
versed in, on that side of things. Fantastic and next question is

352
00:52:03.599 –> 00:52:11.199
and there’s a couple of questions, I think that link to this: “Can
somebody and get help from Access To Work for interviews for

353
00:52:11.199 –> 00:52:17.199
instance if there’s no employer yet?” and I know there’s a couple
of questions around sort of the timing of when you can get access to

354
00:52:17.199 –> 00:52:24.300
work support, whether you’ve started employment or you’re about to start.
Yeah, good questions, good questions.

355
00:52:24.300 –> 00:52:34.500
And yes, you can apply for support for interviews. That’s
absolutely quite normal and no problem whatsoever, in terms of

356
00:52:34.500 –> 00:52:44.599
beginning the application process before you start a job, again that’s
relatively normal as long as you’ve got some proof that you’ve got a

357
00:52:44.599 –> 00:52:55.400
job – a letter of acceptance and so on and so forth. And again, no
problem whatsoever. Fantastic. Thank you and a an interesting

358
00:52:55.400 –> 00:53:01.300
question here, and it’s been upvoted “So and I’ve heard that
applying for Access To Work through the Access To Work scheme can have

359
00:53:01.300 –> 00:53:08.199
negative ramifications later down the line. Is there anything we need
to be aware of that could potentially be negative?”.

360
00:53:08.199 –> 00:53:10.099
Okay. That’s an interesting question.

361
00:53:14.099 –> 00:53:21.900
I would be interested in understanding a little bit more about what
those negative connotations may be off the top of my head, I can’t

362
00:53:21.900 –> 00:53:32.300
think of any other than the fact that asking for support in a
particular organisation may be frowned upon. But that’s more than

363
00:53:32.300 –> 00:53:40.599
organisational thing and than an Access To Work thing, but I can’t think
of anything specifically related to Access To Work. That’s

364
00:53:40.599 –> 00:53:47.099
going to come back and bite somebody. Yeah, but I’m happy to sort of
answer again with a bit more information if that’s okay. I think

365
00:53:47.099 –> 00:53:53.900
that yeah as you say can it comes down to organisational culture and
psychological safety within an organisation more than anything.

366
00:53:53.900 –> 00:54:00.699
I’d be very surprised and understanding this. That’s a you know
protected conversation within DWP as well from

367
00:54:00.699 –> 00:54:02.599
A needs assessment perspective.

368
00:54:06.199 –> 00:54:15.000
Probably the last question I think we will get in before we need to
start to wrap things up. So: “If an employee’s been given a piece of

369
00:54:15.199 –> 00:54:23.800
tech as part of their grant, and what obligation does the company have
to ensure it can be used on company laptops?”. Yeah again, really

370
00:54:23.800 –> 00:54:34.099
really good question, because there are compatibility issues and there are other
issues that can render some software, unreasonable adjustments.

371
00:54:34.199 –> 00:54:42.000
So as you sort of alluded to a moment ago, which there may be some
bits of software that breach of companies GDPR policies for

372
00:54:42.000 –> 00:54:50.300
example, and again, it comes down to this question of reasonable. And
back to the second question if you like, how practical would it be to

373
00:54:50.300 –> 00:54:57.500
implement? Well, if it contravenes our policies and our GDPR
policies, and those GDPR policies are reasonable, then it’s an

374
00:54:57.500 –> 00:55:07.099
unreasonable adjustment. But what I would say is that it’s highly
unlikely that that’s the only software option available, or even the

375
00:55:07.099 –> 00:55:17.400
only way of addressing that particular difficulty. Okay, just because
one adjustment is impractical or unreasonable doesn’t mean that we

376
00:55:17.400 –> 00:55:24.900
can’t look at other options that make sense, but just because access
to work have recommended a specific piece of software, but we can’t

377
00:55:24.900 –> 00:55:34.000
implement it on our systems, that doesn’t mean that that organisation
has to make it work. Brilliant, I’m going to squeeze in one last

378
00:55:34.000 –> 00:55:39.900
question – make it an easy one, please – it’s
black and white, hopefully, and it came up a few times in the

379
00:55:39.900 –> 00:55:49.500
chat. “Once you put some equipment in place for Access To Work whose
property is it, is it the employers or the employees?”. Good question.

380
00:55:49.500 –> 00:56:00.099
Good question. Okay, so the the software or the equipment whatever it
might be belongs to the person that paid for it and that’s the

381
00:56:00.099 –> 00:56:12.000
organisation. Okay, the funding goes to the organisation. It’s owned
by the organisation. That said, it’s quite normal for

382
00:56:12.000 –> 00:56:19.599
organisations to just let you have the equipment if and when you
leave or move jobs, okay, certainly in the case of specialist chairs

383
00:56:19.599 –> 00:56:24.800
or furniture that type of thing and especially if it’s at your home,
they’re unlikely to come out and collect it and take it back if no

384
00:56:24.800 –> 00:56:30.599
one else is ever going to use it. Software is a little bit different
because there is quite a lot of licensing things to take into

385
00:56:30.599 –> 00:56:40.599
consideration about transferring licenses. But if you move
jobs you can apply for Access To Work again. Okay, so it’s not that

386
00:56:40.599 –> 00:56:47.300
you’re not going to get that software anymore. Thank you
so much for that Mark. That was a be a popular question in the chat.

387
00:56:47.599 –> 00:56:53.699
Well, look, I think it’s it’s time to wrap up, and there is lots of
questions unanswered we will get back to them and thank you so much

388
00:56:53.699 –> 00:57:02.400
to everybody for joining us participating in the chat.
Every time we do one of these sessions it’s

389
00:57:02.400 –> 00:57:08.599
fantastic to see the community that we’re building. So thank you
again to everybody for joining and being a part of that and a big

390
00:57:08.599 –> 00:57:17.099
shout out to Mark. Thanks so much for joining us and imparting all
that wisdom on Access To Work. It’s yeah, as you can see it’s

391
00:57:17.099 –> 00:57:26.199
certainly been very very popular and lots of people have got a lot of
value out of it. And just to mention you will get the slide deck, we’ll

392
00:57:26.199 –> 00:57:34.099
answer your questions, and you will get a recording, we’ll send all that
across in emails, and they’ll be also some stuff on social media that

393
00:57:34.099 –> 00:57:41.699
you can, and you’ll be able to see. Certificates of attendance, again
just fill out that survey link at the end, that feedback link

394
00:57:41.699 –> 00:57:47.699
and we’ll get you a certificate to say that you were you were here.
And if you want to hear about any of our software or CareScribe then

395
00:57:47.699 –> 00:57:57.400
please just request a demo, we’ll be happy to oblige. We
do these sessions regularly, we do them every month and and they’re

396
00:57:57.400 –> 00:58:04.099
going from strength to strength. So if you do want to come and join
us for our next session it is a webinar, so it’s online again. It’s

397
00:58:04.099 –> 00:58:12.300
the 9th of April. We’ll send you some details. We’ve got Helen Eaton
who’s going to be joining us to cover reasonable adjustments for

398
00:58:12.300 –> 00:58:19.800
neurodiversity in the workplace, so that follows on really nicely
from this session. So, please do come along come along to that. And

399
00:58:19.800 –> 00:58:27.699
again, if you at the Dyslexia show come in say hi, well to
myself answer to Mark, and we’re both going to be there as well as our

400
00:58:27.699 –> 00:58:36.699
teams. So yeah just to say thanks again for coming along. Thank you
for participating and continuing to make these events what they

401
00:58:36.699 –> 00:58:40.599
are. So thanks so much everybody. And yeah, hopefully see you next
time.