Our response to the Disability Action Plan

On Tuesday 6th February, the Government released their ‘Disability Action Plan’. Some members of the Disability Policy Centre team attended the launch in Westminster.

The positives of the plan were that there has been decisive action taken on reinstating funding for disabled candidates, with a new way to provide financial support for candidates to be launched in 2025. Although we would like this support in time for the next General Election, as we have been campaigning on, we are pleased that our calls have been listened to, and that a long-term solution is being put into place.

In terms of representation, we are also pleased that work is being done with House of Commons, the Local Government Association, and that there are new proposals to make Government communications more accessible. The accessibility of Parliament, Local Government and Government Communications were all key areas that we raised in our ‘Representation’ report.

Other areas that were of interest were the ambition to improve awareness of the UNCRPD across Government, as well as the ambition to do more on climate change and emergency planning. It is positive that Government will work to tackle the disproportionate impact that Clean Air Zones and the ULEZ charge have on disabled people. The latter, in particular, was a topic that was particularly importance to attendees during our London roundtable.

What we would like, however, is to see much more ambition, and real transformation in areas from ranging from Education, to Accessible Transport, to Housing and the Cost of Living. As we have said before, the inequalities and disparities that exist for disabled people, and people with long-term health conditions, require bold and transformative action. During this General Election year, we will continue to build on our research, and make the case for what can be achieved in the next Parliament.