Government’s New Disability Strategy

“Disability matters to all of us.”

The call to action: disability is everyone’s business

Today (28th July) the Government published its new National Disability Strategy with a mixed response. Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey said the government was listening and consulting, with pledges to tackle the barriers to education and work as well issues in daily living such as housing and inaccessible public transport.

However Lord Shinkwin, Chair of the Disability Commission, described the strategy as “more of a mixture of a to-do list and a should have done by now list”. You can read more about what various disability support groups thought about the strategy in the BBC news article here.

The original strategy is published here – it is 121 pages long but if you want the overview, go to page 16 for the Executive Summary.

“I’ve never had trouble going to interviews, dealing with them, carrying them out. The biggest problem comes after the interview because employers will make any sort of excuse not to take the leap of faith, they don’t want to take the risk on you.” – Les. There are 7 million working-age people with a disability or long-term health condition in the UK, but only half are employed/in work. In 2017, the Government set a goal to see 1 million more disabled people in work by 2027 (which is why Be Ready exists!) and whilst  the number of disabled people in work has grown by 800,000 since then, there is still a need to do more.

External news article – all publishing rights and copyright remain with the original publisher and author.

Front page cover of Government National Disability Strategy