- Women and Equalities Minister, will launch a new interim
fund today worth £250,000 to help cover disability-related
expenses so people can stand in elections.
- The EnAble Fund for Elected Office launches in January next
year and will run until March 2020.
- The creation of the new fund is in response to the fact that
people with disabilities are likely to face greater costs when
seeking elected office due to their disability. This will help
people with disabilities compete on a level playing field with
all other candidates.
- People can bid for a range of things. This could include, but
is not limited to, transport support for mobility impaired
candidates, specialist equipment such as screen reader software,
British Sign Language interpretation for hearing impaired
candidates during election campaigns and the transcription of
campaign material into braille for visually impaired candidates.
- The fund, which will be delivered by Disability Rights UK
supported by the Local Government Association, will be open to
anyone standing in elections up to March 2020, including local
and mayoral elections.
- Establishing this fund should not disincentivise political
parties from continuing to develop their own measures. Instead,
it should help them prioritise this issue and take action to
ensure no one is disadvantaged in the democratic process.
- The launch of this fund comes on the International Day for
Persons with Disabilities. The Department for International
Development will today launch their disability inclusion strategy
at an event hosted by Channel 4 in London.
Minister for Women and Equalities said:
“Everyone has the right to stand and represent their community –
and it is vital no-one is held back.
“Empowering people with disabilities leads to better decisions
and more effective outcomes for all of us.
“Unless every one of our citizens can reach their full potential
our nation never will.”
