By GB News (World News) | Created at 2026-10-14 14:55:50 | Updated at 2026-10-14 21:11:19
7 hours ago
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A self-employed ADHD coach has been paid more than £50,000 by the Government to fund "personal assistants" for her business.
Maddy Alexander-Grout, 42, lives in Southampton with multiple health conditions, including Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and uses a wheelchair.
Ms Alexander-Grout runs her ADHD coaching business and helps people with the disorder how to access taxpayer-funded grants.
She has received the grant under the UK's Access to Work scheme, created in 1994 under Sir John Major’s Government.
The campaigner claimed to have received £13,000 of support through the scheme after applying for help with her ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia and premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
However, the grant rose to £56,000 the following year after receiving a formal autism diagnosis.
The payment was then spent on two assistants for Ms Alexander-Grout, one who "manages her diary” and another providing "technical support".
Speaking to The Times, Ms Alexander-Grout said the grant has been a "game changer" for her coaching business.
She said: "I’m a coach, I’m somebody who does social media, I speak in the press, I go on TV, I go on radio.
"But in terms of running it — organisation, admin, writing, reading, sending emails — basically the core functions of running a business, I was just failing at every hurdle."
Ms Alexander-Grout added: "They were doing literally everything, uploading content into my community, organising my diary, helping me to plan my day, doing admin for the online festival I run.
"And reminding me to take medication, reminding me of things like doctors’ and hospital appointments."
She revealed that the support has helped her business generate more than £100,000 in revenue last year.
However, the grant was not renewed this year, meaning her business was "hanging on by a thread".
Ms Alexander-Grout told The Times: "We have to sort out our own reasonable adjustments. That’s really difficult if you don’t have enough money to pay for it, because you’re trying to earn a living."
Grants through the Access to Work scheme are capped at £69,260 a year.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: "Access to Work can be a lifeline for disabled people who are in work, but demand for the scheme has grown significantly in recent years, with the number of people supported nearly doubling in five years and an inherited backlog.
"That’s why we’ve taken action by employing nearly 500 additional staff to clear the backlog and are working with disabled people and their organisations to improve the scheme.
"The average payment claimed by customers in the last financial year was £4,000.
"We’re also investing £3.5billion in tailored employment support for disabled people and partnering with employers to help disabled people to stay in work with the insights from former John Lewis Chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield’s Keep Britain Working Review."
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