Labour responds to government’s Green Paper on disability

“Disabled people and their families deserve much more than this repeatedly delayed and piecemeal announcement. The pandemic has exposed the deep inequalities in our society including for disabled people who have borne the brunt of the pandemic, accounting for in excess of 60 per cent of deaths. At a time when disabled people should be at the forefront of government policy, engagement has been tokenistic.

“Labour has been calling on the Government to provide this Green Paper and the long awaited national strategy for over a year, yet the Government are trying to sneak out this announcement before summer recess and have not given time for it to have the scrutiny it deserves. For the Government to claim that now is not the right time to introduce changes to sick pay shows just how out of touch they are.

“Disabled people deserve better than this, not waiting for proposed changes in mid-2022 – they need change now.”