Lack of accessible formats for welfare consultation is height of “contempt”

A coalition of disability charities has said it is the “height of contempt” that the government is asking disabled people to consult on life-changing new welfare benefit laws without providing accessible formats.

Over 30 UK disability charities representing 16 million disabled people have written a joint letter to Liz Kendall MP saying that access to information is a fundamental human right and that if the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) can’t be held to higher standards, how can they expect disability confidence in the workplace?

It comes as the government launches Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, which sets out proposed changes to personal independence payment (PIP) and universal credit (UC).

Disability campaigners have already flagged that the green paper consultation does not include questions on a number of important elements, such as:

• Scrapping the work capability assessment (WCA)
• Creating a single assessment for PIP and the UC health element
• Freezing the health element of UC until 2029/30
• Only awarding PIP daily living if you get at least one descriptor scoring 4 or more points
• Restarting WCA reassessments until the WCA is scrapped

Welfare reform should focus on ensuring people get the support they need

The letter, signed by charities such as Hft, Dimensions, Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG), and Sense, asks the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to ensure that those most affected by these proposed changes have time to process and share their views.

It points out that the consultation is only running for 12 weeks, and whilst the consultation page indicates that accessible information will be available ‘in due course’, they are concerned that this excludes people who the government should be listening to from the start.

The coalition adds: “Inclusion and accessibility are a basic baseline for employers to be disability confident and the Department for Work and Pensions should be a leading example of this.

“We are calling for an immediate update to the consultation and accessible formats be included, simply extending the deadline implies accessibility for disabled people is an afterthought when the essence of welfare reform should focus on ensuring people get the support they need.”

Alison Bloomer

Alison Bloomer is Editor of Learning Disability Today. She has over 25 years of experience writing for medical journals and trade publications. Subjects include healthcare, pharmaceuticals, disability, insurance, stock market and emerging technologies. She is also a mother to a gorgeous 13-year-old boy who has a learning disability.

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