Guest post by Leanne Maskell, who is the founder and director of ADHD coaching company ADHD Works, and the author of AuDHD: Blooming Differently and ADHD Works at Work.

Since 1994, the UK Government's Access to Work (ATW) grant scheme has funded support additional to reasonable adjustments to help people with health conditions to stay in work. Since the Covid pandemic, there's been a significant increase in those with health conditions, such as a 400% increase in the number of adults seeking ADHD.

This is a result of greater awareness and education, with 1 in 9 adults with ADHD undiagnosed, and 9 out of 10 of autistic people over age 50 being undiagnosed. In contrast, employers have struggled to catch up with this need, seeing a 40% increase in employment tribunal cases relating to neurodiversity discrimination in a year.

What Happens If Access to Work Is Taken Away? ADHD factors to consider

At present, ATW fills in the gap, with workplace assessments and support to help individuals remain in work. A formal diagnosis is not needed, as disability is a legal test, not a medical one - just as within the workplace.

ATW has recently come under fire for this, and amidst a cost-cutting venture from the Government, it is at risk. Here's what will happen if it is removed, and what employers can do:

Lost productivity

Individuals with untreated ADHD lose around 22 days of productivity per year, and research shows that nearly a quarter of working adults who are on long term sick leave due to stress exhibit symptoms of ADHD.

To not only remove potential future support, but also existing support in place, would mean significant disruption to a workplace and lost productivity. It would simultaneously place immense pressure on employees to adjust to a lack of much needed support, and employers to provide this for multiple people.

As ATW funds support additional to reasonable adjustments based on an external assessment with an individual, this is a grey area. It could be argued that support such as specialist coaching or equipment is in fact a reasonable adjustment that their employer should be covering - resulting in immense time and confusion for employers to navigate such requests.

Only the employment tribunal can determine whether a person is disabled, and what is 'reasonable' - and employers do not have the medical expertise to make such decisions.

Having accessible reasonable adjustments policies and processes in place regardless of ATW will minimise this risk, in addition to ensuring that individuals are accessing the support they are legally entitled to from their employer.

1. Unemployment

Without ATW support in place, employers will be far less likely to employ people who disclose medical conditions - and individuals will be far less likely to disclose.

This will have a significant impact on the already significant employment gap for neurodivergent people, such as just 29% of all autistic people, and 33.9% of people with ADHD in employment, compared to 75% of the general population.

Adults with ADHD are nearly 60% more likely to be fired, 30% more likely to have chronic employment issues, and 3 times more likely to quit a job impulsively. As nearly a quarter of the working-age population are disabled, this move would further stigmatise those who are already disadvantaged, despite offering immense potential to employers.

This also has an impact on employer's bottom line, as the cost of hiring new employees vs retaining them is much higher. Recruitment alone can cost 20-30% of an employee's salary, before other factors such as onboarding processes and training costs. This is ironic, given that many reasonable adjustments are free, with an average cost of £75.

Employers can tackle this by implementing mandatory neurodiversity training, and tailoring this as needed, such as for HR. By embracing different ways of working, employers can empower those who think differently to contribute their full efforts to the workforce, reaping the ben...