What has three weeks of a new Labour government delivered for disabled people?

The phrase “a week is a long time in politics” was attributed to the Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson, and now, three weeks into a new Labour Government, these words are more pertinent than ever.  We have a new administration that is furrowing ahead with an all-change mantra matched with a whirlwind of activity.

What does it amount to for disabled people?

There are encouraging signs that disabled people’s interests will be properly represented in the new Government. As well as retaining the role of Minister for Disabled People, the Government have given the Minister for Care and the Minister for Employment some responsibilities over disabled people.

This should help to make sure that Government Ministers across different departments are thinking about how their policy affects disabled people, and how they can work together to improve the lives of disabled people. This should encourage more joined up thinking and accountability if we turn this positive intent into practice.

It’s also positive that the Government seems keen to co-produce policies, involving disabled people and disability charities in drawing up the proposals that affect them, such as adult social care reform and solutions to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) crisis in schools.

The need for further action

The early signs are positive, but we have still lots of questions about what the new Government’s policies will look like practice. So, what more can the new Government to do?

Reform adult social care

Adult social care is vital to many disabled people, enabling them to lead independent and meaningful lives. But too many people miss out on the care they need.

Sense research has found that a quarter of people with complex disabilities in the UK receive social care, but one in five don’t feel that they have the right support to meet their needs.  

The Labour manifesto committed to reforming adult social care, and it’s looking likely that they will form a Royal Commission to build a cross-party consensus for their proposals. Some charities were critical for not sufficiently mentioning social care in the Kings Speech.

The government knows that social care isn’t fit for purpose and that our public services are on an unsustainable path. If we are going to develop a long- term plan for social care, we need all party support.  No party has managed to do it on their own.

A Royal Commission could be an opportunity to rethink how our social care system supports disabled people, making sure that it helps to meet social and emotional needs as well as personal care needs.  It means engaging with voluntary sector providers, those with lived experience and family carers.  The government needs to show that it is serious and demonstrate that when it comes to social care there’s ‘no decision about us, without us.’

But it’s important that a Royal Commission doesn’t stand in the way of immediate action to tackle the social care crisis.

A quarter of people with complex disabilities who receive social care had their care provision cut in the past year. 15% had their care withdrawn altogether.

Disabled people can’t wait any longer for a properly funded social care system. We need to break the cycle of one year funding agreements on social care which became the norm under the last government. 

This can’t continue particularly at a time when complexity of need is increasing and where thousands of disabled people are still waiting for an assessment of their needs. 

That’s why Sense is calling for the Government to announce multi-year funding for adult social care at the next Budget.

Plug the gap in early years support

Many disabled children are not receiving the vital care they need. Despite being eligible for social care, disabled children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) are often deprioritised by an underfunded social care system that is struggling to handle many pressures.  

It looks like the Government’s new Children’s Wellbeing Bill doesn’t include measures to offer disabled pupils more support. Despite that, the new Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has already made some ministerial changes that suggest she is making SEND a bigger priority. We hope that she builds on this by setting out a strategy to improve access to SEND and pull together services across health, education and social care.  Without inclusive policies, buildings, lessons, and culture, we will not meet the needs of disabled children. 

Reforming welfare and helping disabled people into work

Earlier this year, we saw the previous Government announce a number of proposals designed to reduce the cost of welfare. As well as being concerned about the impact of these proposals on disabled people, Sense is also worried about the increasingly negative narrative about benefits.

The new Government have announced that they with both reform welfare and offer disabled jobseekers more specialist support to enter work. Some of the measures they’ve set out so far, such as making it easier for disabled people to make equal pay claims, are positive. There’s also been a clear change in tone, with the current Government seeming to talk more about tackling the barriers to work than simply encouraging disabled people to come off benefits.  We have also moved away from the threat of benefit sanctions which undermines disabled people’s ability to engage with back to work support.

But it’s still unclear what their plans for benefits reform will look like. We don’t know, for example, if they will continue with the Government’s reforms to Personal Independence Payment. The consultation on the proposals has just closed, and we will have to wait to see whether they will take it forward.

Our welfare system does need reform. But it isn’t too generous. In fact, it’s not generous enough, with 44% of people with complex disabilities on benefits regularly going without the support and equipment they need as disabled person because they can’t afford it.

That’s why we’re calling on the Government to work with disabled people to make sure that benefit claimants can afford the essentials.

Next steps

It’s early days, but there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the new Government. There are still, however, plenty of issues for the Government to tackle.

There are 16 million disabled people and too many are cut off from the opportunity’s others enjoy. This is not a marginal issue.

Working in partnership with government, we can do so much more to improve disabled people’s opportunities, improve their quality of life, and strengthen our society.