Work and Access: funding to remove barriers at work for disabled employees and self-employed people

The seven supports

A Workplace Needs Assessment comes first for In-Work Support and Workplace Adaptation. They can only be funded if the assessor's report recommends them. Expensive equipment may need one too.

The assessment only makes recommendations. It does not approve funding.

Who can apply

Workers. You can apply if you:

• are 18 or over and under 70, and not getting a State pension
• work, or are about to work, in the Republic of Ireland, outside the public sector
• work at least 8 hours a week or 32 hours a month, are self-employed, or are on work experience, an internship or an apprenticeship lasting 6 months or more
• have a disability or health condition that affects your ability to work and is likely to last more than 12 months

You show the last point by getting a long-term disability payment, such as Disability Allowance, Blind Pension or Partial Capacity Benefit, or with medical evidence. Deaf people do not have to prove they are deaf to get interpreter support.

Employers. You can apply if you are a private company, a community, voluntary or not-for-profit body, a commercial semi-state or a self-employed person in the Republic of Ireland. You must be a legal entity or a charity recognised by Revenue, and tax compliant.

A self-employed person can be both the worker who needs the support and the business that applies for it. The guidelines count sole traders, partners, contractors and people running a franchise.

People on Disability Allowance who want to work for themselves can also look at keeping a disability payment for two years while a business starts.

What it will not pay for

• Anything in the public sector. Those costs are for the public employer to meet.
• Unpaid or voluntary work.
• Equipment an employer would normally provide for the job, including ordinary ergonomic furniture such as a chair with good back support.
• General devices such as mobile phones and smart watches. Assistive software that runs on them can be covered.
• The usual costs of setting up and running a business.
• Work the law already requires, under building regulations, health and safety law or the Employment Equality Acts.
• Building changes to a person's home, even if they work from it. For that there is the council grant for changes to your own home.
• Diagnostic assessments or treatment.
• Anything bought before final approval.

Recruitment agencies and other third parties cannot apply.

How to apply, step by step

1. Pick the form. The worker fills in WA1 for Communication Support, a Personal Reader or Work Equipment. The employer fills in WA2 for a Workplace Needs Assessment or training.
2. If you need In-Work Support or a Workplace Adaptation, get the Workplace Needs Assessment done first, then apply for them on WA2. You find the assessor yourself. They must be suitably qualified, for example an occupational therapist, occupational psychologist or ergonomics specialist.
3. Get quotes. Registered Irish Sign Language interpreters and personal readers need none. Other supports need one, two or three, depending on the cost.
4. Send the form in. You can email it to workandaccess@welfare.ie, drop it into your Intreo Centre, or post it to PO Box 13736, Co Louth. No stamp is needed.
5. A designated officer checks eligibility and tells you if you are approved in principle. That is not yet a commitment to fund.
6. Wait for final approval, then buy. Pay the supplier and send the Department proof of payment.

Form WA2 asks for your tax or VAT number and tax clearance access number, the employee's details and signed consent, and then has a part for each support. For an adaptation you describe the work, attach plans, quotes and a timescale, and give the cost before and after VAT.

Both forms are on the Work and Access page on gov.ie. These are the quote rules, by cost before VAT.

How you are paid

For most supports the employer or self-employed person pays the supplier and claims the money back with a receipt or bank statement. Ongoing In-Work Support can be repaid monthly.

A grant to an employer or self-employed person is paid less the VAT. You may be able to reclaim the VAT from Revenue separately.

Sign language interpreters and agencies invoice the Department directly for the hours approved. A personal reader is paid through a claim form you return each month.

Equipment belongs to the disabled person, unless it has become part of the employer's own equipment. Adaptations built into the premises belong to the employer.

The funding is classed as a grant and is exempt from corporation tax. Keep the records for six years after the support ends.

How many apply, and if you are refused

In 2025 the Department received 415 applications and refused 31. It spent €427,576. In the first eight months of 2026 it received 337 applications, refused 12 and spent €606,318.

Work and Access replaced the Reasonable Accommodation Fund and the Disability Awareness Support Scheme in July 2024. The forms and guidelines were revised in April 2026.

If you are refused, write to the officer within 21 days, setting out your grounds and attaching any evidence. An officer who was not involved reviews it. There is no appeal to the Social Welfare Appeals Office.

An employer taking on a disabled worker can also look at the hourly subsidy towards a disabled employee's wages.

Common questions

Keep reading

• the forms for the disability wage subsidy, and where they go