Managing your Access to Work budget

Your Access to Work budget is an individual allocation, meaning that you don't normally share it with anyone else. However, if you and another Deaf person both have an Access to Work budget and agree to attend an event together, you might each hire and pay for your own interpreter, or even multiple interpreters if needed. In this case, your budget will cover 100% of the interpreting costs you incur, and these details will be specified at the end of each month on your individual Access to Work form.

If a situation arises where you and another Deaf person with an Access to Work budget agree to share the cost of a single interpreter for a meeting or office support, the invoice can be amended to show an equal percentage of the cost for each of you. This might happen when it's not possible or practical to hire multiple interpreters. The arrangement will be detailed on the invoice and reflected in both of your Access to Work forms. Staff members can communicate and decide which invoices they each pay, ensuring that the costs are appropriately shared.

Since April 2016 there has been a cap placed on the total amount allowed as a yearly claim. This is not your total budget, it is a guideline limit. No spending will be allowed beyond that limit in any one year, but you will be expected to keep within your allocated budget. For example, you might be given a budget of 20 hours per month at £25 per hour for in-house support, plus 9 hours per month at £45 per hour for freelance support, giving you a total budget per year of 29*12=348 hours. If you use all your allocation, this means you would spend £6000 for in-house support and £4860 for freelance support. If you need to spend more, you will need to contact your Access to Work adviser to ask for an extension.

You will only be allowed to extend your budget up to the Department for Work and Pensions cap for that year, so the Reasonable Adjustment Co-ordinator keeps a running total of how much you spend each month. This is emailed to you every month, after the Access to Work forms have been sent, so that you are kept up to date with your budget.

Just like your bank account, ultimately it is your responsibility to keep track of your own budget: the Reasonable Adjustment Co-ordinator will send you monthly “statements” (ie the monthly email mentioned above), and may advise you when you are reaching your average monthly spend, but it is up to you how you decide to spend your allocation, and when. However, if you go over your budget, DCAL will not be able to reclaim the money it has already spent on your Access to Work. If you are aware that your budget is not enough to cover a conference you have to attend, please inform your Access to Work adviser in good time, to allow a change to your budget before a deficit occurs in DCAL’s own budget.

Please note that the standard cancellation fees apply. If a meeting is cancelled more than 14 days before a booking there is usually no charge.

If a meeting is cancelled less than 14 days before a booking, there will be a charge as follows:

• 14-8 days before a booking: 50% of the fee is charged.
• 0-7 days before a booking: 100% of the fee is charged.

Therefore it is very important to inform the interpreting team immediately you know that a booking is cancelled.

If you have received approval for funding for a conference from Access to Work, please note the following:

1. Check your agreement form as to the procedure to claim for fees and expenses for conferences.
2. If your agreement for conferences states that interpreters are to be paid directly by AtW (i.e. not UCL paying upfront and then claiming from AtW as we do for day-to-day support), it is the AtW recipient’s (i.e. your) responsibility to manage these claims as there is no need for any processing by UCL. In the circumstances:

   Useful tips in applying for conference funding:

   • Take note of the agreed budget for the conference and ensure you do not exceed it.
   • Check AtW’s terms – often involves sending ALL original receipts. *Note: if original receipts are not provided or if budget exceeded, AtW can refute the claims or reduce payment*
   • Pass on these terms to the communication professionals as soon as you book them to ensure the claiming process is as smooth as possible.
   • Ensure you make explicit to the communication professionals that the assignment is for a conference and they must liaise with you, in order to avoid confusion and invoices being sent to DCAL.
   • Retrieve quotes from preferred communication professional(s) prior to budget approval – you may need to explain why you require BSL interpreters specifically if there are other sign language interpreters present at the conference – stress that BSL is your preferred sign language and the one that you have fluency in.
   • Estimates of expenses (incl. screenshots) – stress that these are estimates and reflect prices at the time of the application and so prices could change (an increase is likely) closer to the booking due to demand and potential limited options (i.e. flights/accommodation).
     *Put quotes and estimates of expenses in one spreadsheet to send to AtW.
   • Original receipts must be provided but ensure you and the interpreters have scanned copy of receipts.
   • Make scanned copies of the completed signed claim form in order to make referring back to specific details easier and ensure this is saved in your computer.