UK announces plans for fairer & better prospects for disabled

The UK Government has launched the National Disability Strategy today offering more accessible housing, easier commuting and better job prospects for millions of disabled people.

The strategy sets out 100 immediate commitments supported by £1.6 billion of funding alongside an ambitious agenda for future reform. It aims to improve the stark employment prospects for disabled people.  Recent figures from the Office of National Statistics show that just 52.3% of disabled people are currently employed; compared to 81.1% for people who are not disabled.

“Just as our talented Paralympians are set to take the stage in Tokyo next month, at home we are harnessing that same ambition and spirit, to build a better and fairer life for all disabled people living in the UK,” stated Prime Minister Boris Johnson. “Our new National Disability Strategy is a clear plan – from giving disabled people the best start in school to unlocking equal job opportunities, this strategy sets us on a path to improve their everyday lives.”

IMPROVING INCLUSION

The strategy is focused on improving inclusion in the workplace and tackling the disability employment gap; which currently stands at 28.6%. It also wants to ensure that children with special educational needs and disabilities are at the heart of the strategy. They include:

• Consulting on introducing workforce reporting for businesses with more than 250 staff on the number of disabled people. A move designed to improve inclusive practice across the UK’s biggest employers and builds on existing gender reporting requirements.
• Increasing the number of disabled people employed by MI5, MI6, GCHQ, the Reservists and the civilian military by 2030. MI6 has set an interim target of 9% by 2025.
• Launching a new online advice hub available to both disabled people and employers; which providing information and advice on disability discrimination in the workplace, flexible working and rights and obligations around reasonable adjustments. For the first time, the one stop shop will make it easier for disabled people to navigate the workplace.
• Piloting an Access to Work Adjustments Passport to help smooth the transition into employment and support people changing jobs. Pilots will be taking place this year focussing on young people leaving education and veterans leaving the armed forces. The Adjustments Passport will capture the in-work support needs of the individual and empower them to have confident discussions about adjustments with employers. It will also set an expectation with the employer that specialist aids/appliances move when their employee progresses in work or moves post.
• Investing £300 million to create places, improve existing provision in schools and make accessibility adaptations for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

BETTER HOMES & TECHNOLOGY

The strategy outlines plans to ensure disabled people can live in homes adapted to their needs; as well as ensuring new technology to make rail journeys easier and more accessible. In addition, it covers a range of other areas including access to justice, culture and the arts; and aims to improve disabled people’s everyday lives with legislation, policy and funding from across all corners of government.

Work and Pensions Secretary of State Thérèse Coffey believes the national strategy “will help level up opportunity”, and “improve the everyday experience of disabled people, whether that is at home; travelling on public transport; using the local high street or going online; enjoying culture, the arts or the great outdoors; and exercising civic roles like jury service and voting”.  It sets out the “practical actions we will take now, alongside clear accountability for delivering them; as well as renewing our ambition to do even more as we build back fairer”, she added.

“We are absolutely committed to putting disabled people at the heart of government policy making and service delivery,” stated Minister for Disabled People, Justin Tomlinson. “Their voices, insights and experiences are central to this strategy and our future approach. By engaging disabled people, their families, carers and organisations, collectively we will deliver real and lasting change.”

LACKING CONCRETE MEASURES

However, many disability campaigners believe the strategy does not go far enough and lacks concrete measures to address the challenges faced by people with disabilities. Kevin Shinkwin, who chairs the Centre for Social Justice’s Disability Commission, described the document as “flimsy”. “Despite being nearly 100 pages long, the strategy is disappointingly thin on immediate actions, medium-term plans and the details of longer term investment,” commented Disability Rights UK charity CEO Kamran Mallick.

Although many of the measures announced by individual Government departments bring us a step closer to making that a reality, “more needs to be done to turn this from a one-year plan into a strategy that truly transforms the life chances of disabled people”, pointed out Business Disability Forum’s Head of Policy, Angela Matthews. “When Government departments work in isolation, different areas of disabled people’s lives – such as transport, employment, health care, homes, social care, education, leisure, social life – risk being seen as separate and unrelated. This disjointed approach is at odds with disabled people’s life experience.”

AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT

The Business Disability Forum said it welcomed the Government proposals to Consult on flexible working and disability workforce monitoring; review the effectiveness of the Disability Confident scheme; support the development of assistive technology; address the barriers disabled people experience in accessing and remaining in employment; and establish an Extra Costs Taskforce to review the additional living costs incurred by disabled people. However, it is also calling on the Government to do more, including:

• Give greater recognition to the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on the lives of disabled people and the vital role that disability inclusion plays in post-Covid recovery. This includes ensuring everyone has access to the public information they need in a way that is accessible to them
• Recognise the vital role that social care and health care play in delivering equality of opportunity for all disabled people, including those of working age; ensuring both are properly funded.
• Ensure that Disability Confident requires a whole organisational approach to disability inclusion. Business Disability Forum is carrying out its own review of the scheme and we will share the results with Government.
• Extend the proposed transformation of Access to Work, to allow disabled people to access the scheme at an earlier stage in the job seeking process. To remove the support cap, which disproportionately impacts people with more expensive support needs, such as people who need British Sign Language (BSL) signers and people with learning disabilities.
• Ensure that disabled people have access to assistive technology throughout their lives through a ‘Tech for Life’ fund.
• Commit to meeting the extra costs that disabled people incur simply by having a disability, informed by findings of the Extra Costs Taskforce.

The UK’s Business Disability Forum recently responded to the Government’s recent raft of proposals and initiatives on disability, health and employment. Click here to read more.