Labour announces plans to tackle discrimination and restore protections for disabled people and their families
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Today (Tuesday), Labour launches its manifesto for disabled
people, “Breaking Down Barriers”, which sets out how a Labour
Government will enforce the right of disabled people to live
independent lives. The UN has reported that the Tories have
committed “systematic violations” of the rights of disabled people
- while their families have been “driven to breaking point” by cuts
to social security. Poverty in families where
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Today (Tuesday), Labour launches its manifesto for disabled people, “Breaking Down Barriers”, which sets out how a Labour Government will enforce the right of disabled people to live independent lives.
The UN has reported that the Tories have committed “systematic violations” of the rights of disabled people - while their families have been “driven to breaking point” by cuts to social security.
Poverty in families where someone is disabled has risen by over a million since 2010 and almost half of all working age adults living in poverty live in a family that includes a disabled adult or child.
To tackle the scandal of disabled poverty, Labour will:
Currently a disabled child on UC receives less than half the basic addition for disabled children in Child Tax Credits to help parents cover the additional costs of having a disability - £1,513 a year, compared with £3,355 a year under Child Tax. The difference is currently £1,842 a year, or £154 a month, or £35 a week.
Labour’s Manifesto for Disabled People also commits Labour to:
Halve the disability employment gap by bringing back specialist employment advisors, requiring that all employers be trained to better support disabled people, introducing mandatory disability pay gap reporting for companies with over 250 employees, giving people the right to disability leave, paid and recorded separately from sick leave, producing statutory guidance on timescales for the implementation of reasonable adjustment and introducing a government backed Reasonable Adjustments Passport.
Develop a strategy based on inclusivity throughout our education system, invest in SENCOs and take measure to increase access for disabled people at every level of education.
Ensure disabled people can get access to justice by incorporating disability hate crime into law, requiring disability hate crime and violence against disabled women to be reported annually, and putting in place comprehensive national actions plans.
Break down barriers to disabled people in transport by ending the discriminatory practice of Driver Only Operation on the railway expanding bus services and ensuring that all new buses are talking buses (offering audio-visual announcements).
Break down barriers to disabled people in cultural and political life by giving British Sign Language full legal recognition and reinstating the Access to Elected Office fund to enable disabled people to run for elected office.
Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said:
“The treatment of disabled people by Conservative and Lib Dem governments, from devastating cuts to social security support, to cruel and unnecessary assessments, and a complete failure to address the disability employment gap, should be a source of shame.
“Labour will put right this injustice. We’ll ensure that disabled people get the support they need to lead independent lives and participate fully in society. We are on your side.
“This election is a chance for real change, for a more inclusive, fair and equal society that works for the many, not the few.”
Marsha de Cordova, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Disabled People, said:
“I have heard from disabled people all over the country who are angry at how they have been treated by Conservative-led governments and passionate about working with Labour to transform how government approaches disability rights.
“I am proud that Labour is the only party with a manifesto developed by and for disabled people, according to our principle of ‘nothing about you without you’. Labour in government will embody that principle, empowering disabled people and enhancing our voices.
“Breaking Down Barriers takes us beyond what we’ve previously committed, and sets out how we’ll radically shift our approach to ensure the economic, social and structural barriers faced by disabled people are addressed. It’s time for real change.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
· Full manifesto here: http://labour.org.uk/disability-manifesto/
· Labour's Grey Book ‘Funding Real Change’ allocated £8.4bn for social security (excluding pensions) in 2023-24, of which £2.6bn is for measures relating to disability https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Funding-Real-Change-1.pdf
· In 2010/11, poverty in families where someone is disabled stood at 4.3 million. By 2017/18, that number has risen to 5.5 million. The number of families where someone is disabled living in absolute poverty increased by 700,000 over the same period.
The Social Metrics Commission report ‘Measuring Poverty’ in July 2019 found “that of the 8.3 million working-age adults in poverty, almost half (4.1 million) live in a family that includes a disabled adult or child. Rates of poverty for working-age adults living in disabled families are far higher (30%) than those in non-disabled families (17%).” https://socialmetricscommission.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/SMC_measuring-poverty-201908_full-report.pdf
· Disabled people have been particularly affected by the Tories' cruel sanctions regime. The Work and Pensions Select Committee Inquiry into Benefit Sanctions found that “Some groups of people are disproportionately vulnerable to, and affected by, the withdrawal of their benefit. These include single parents, care leavers and people with an impairment or health condition” and that no evidence the Committee received was “more compelling than that against the imposition of conditionality and sanctions on people with a disability or health condition. It does not work. Worse, it is harmful and counterproductive.” https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/work-and-pensions-committee/news-parliament-2017/benefit-sanctions-report-published-17-19/ |