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<p>DWP is committed to ensuring that the Access to Work (AtW) scheme is accessible
to visually impaired people. We work closely with stakeholders (including organisations
who support blind and visually impaired people) to identify and deliver improvements
to the scheme to broaden its accessibility and reach.</p><p> </p><p>Recent accessibility
improvements include:</p><ul><li>completing work to ensure our online application
journey is compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidance (v 2.1); ensuring
the service works with all major screen readers, screen magnifiers and other assistive
software</li><li>creating accessible versions of four Access to Work claim forms.
These products are compatible with popular assistive software such as JAWS, Windows
NVDA and Zoomtext. Customers can also request versions in a format of their choice
if these do not meet their needs.</li></ul><p> </p><p>In addition, we are currently
developing an online journey to enable citizens to claim the grant; this will be fully
accessible and allow users to submit claims, check the status of claims and view their
remaining grant. We have done extensive user research and prototype testing with users
who have visual impairments to ensure the future service meets their needs. We are
also discussing ways of reducing the amount of invoices and other evidence users might
need to upload or supply; ensuring a more inclusive service across all channels.</p><p>
</p><p>To raise awareness of the scheme, Access to Work was supported with paid campaign
activity that ran between 24 February and 31 March, and the Department continues to
assess how the scheme can be promoted to support both those with visual impairment
and people with other disabilities and health conditions. The campaign ran across
a broad channel mix to reach a wide but targeted audience. To coincide with the Access
to Work campaign launch, we also produced a new Access to Work toolkit. This was shared
with a wide range of stakeholders, including Business Disability Forum, Disability
Benefits Consortium (DBC), Disability Rights UK and the RNIB.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>
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