Where we stand

There are misconceptions about the voting rights of people who have a learning disability, autism or an acquired brain injury. In 2021 we found that only two thirds of people in the UK knew that people with learning disabilities have a legal right to vote.

Despite great efforts to increase voter registration for these groups, such as initiatives like our My Vote My Voice website, it often doesn’t translate into voter turnout. This can be due to barriers faced in the polling station, such as negative attitudes and behaviours.

Easy read manifestos tend to be produced at the last minute rather than when a party launches its pledge. Currently no political party has easy read materials on their website to promote their current policies or future plans. 

Whilst there are some positives in the Elections Act 2022, we have concerns that the reforms could fail to meet the needs of voters who already face considerable barriers in their democratic right to vote.

• Access needs recorded when people register to vote so returning officers ensure polling stations have the right access, equipment and staff training
• The introduction of universal polling stations so people have the option to choose where to cast their vote within a local authority area and are assured their access needs will be met
• A commitment from every political party to produce easy read, audio and video manifestos that are published at the same time as their manifesto is launched
• Accessible information about party policy developments in formats such as easy read, audio and video are available on all party websites as a minimum standard.

The absence of any explicit statutory provisions for disability hate crime (DHC) is a major gap within the UK’s criminal justice system. Hundreds of thousands of people are impacted every year^[1], yet troubling ambiguity for victims, police, legal professionals, and court staff alike persists around reporting and successfully prosecuting such incidents.

As with other affected cohorts of hate crimes, disabled people’s victimisation is as complex as it is insidious in its manifestations, yet additional risks are posed to our community in large part due to their vulnerability and reduced capacity in social situations. Dangers which stakeholders must be alive to include (but are not limited to) discrimination, exploitation, exclusion, and theft. These challenges are further complicated by the added dimension of cybercrime and victimisation, where online disability hate crime rose by 52% during 2020/21 compared to 2019/20.

Devising effective safeguarding procedures and robust working knowledge among professionals whilst balancing disabled people’s right to independent living remains a key challenge for disability advocates.

For Government

• To publish a renewed and updated Hate Crime Action Plan that offers an explicit parity of protection to victims of disability-motivated hate crime, as recommended by the Law Commission in its recent review.
• Provide greater and more explicit protections for disabled people in the Online Safety Bill, placing a greater onus on social media companies to tackle abusive language and harassing behaviour against disabled users.
• To make disability a specific protected characteristic within hate crime legislation.
• Fund specialised services to support disability hate crime victims following a hate incident and hate crime.

For the police

• To introduce a trained specialist disability liaison officer in every force in England and Wales.
• Work closely with social care organisations to raise awareness of how to report hate crime.
• Set targets to increase disability hate crime prosecution rates

Accessing appropriate and timely mental health support and psychiatric care remains a persistently acute challenge for disabled people and their families, particularly for those with learning disabilities, and autism. Historically, mental health professionals have not always differentiated between a patient’s disability and their mental wellbeing, often attributing problems such as anxiety, depression, and so-called “challenging behaviour” to their disability rather than as a psychiatric issue.

Whilst the Government’s National Disability and Autism Strategies have made explicit commitments to investing in and improving children and young people’s accessibility to appropriate mental health services, similarly thorough commitments to meeting the needs of disabled adults – particularly those diagnosed later in life – appear comparatively scant.

• An awareness-raising programme aimed at adults drawing on social care of their rights and protections available to them during times of mental health crises.  
• A dedicated training programme developed in close consultation with health and social care professionals on engaging with autistic patients, as well as patients with learning and intellectual disabilities, to make service provision more accessible.
• Recognise the unique vulnerability to mental health challenges frontline social care workers face in their duties, particularly in a post-COVID context, and implement a fast-track mental assessment process and targeted support for the social care workforce.
• Implement the new guiding principles recommended by the White Paper on Reforming the Mental Health Act as a matter of urgency, to reform the Act’s provision of services into a more person-centred system where disabled people are given better choices and accessible information about their care options
• Commission a large-scale study and data collection exercise to measure the impact of social prescribing, to develop a standardised evaluation framework and performance standards.
• Recognise social isolation and loneliness as key mental health challenges to people who are autistic and or live with a learning/intellectual disability. 
• Invest in additional advocacy services provided to disabled citizens and their families at the point of need, empowering them to actively pursue redress and better care during a crisis.

The publication of the Government’s SEND Review report: Right Support, Right Place, Right Time was long overdue. Chronic underfunding, lack of inclusion in mainstream schooling and increasing absence rates are just a number of the ways children and young people with SEND have face sustained deterioration of their human right to inclusive education

We’re concerned that the Skills and Post-16 education Act 2022 will have a disproportionate impact on SEND students and that any changes brought about by the SEND review will be too late for students that are already falling through the cracks.

The number of disabled people in work is rising but the same cannot be said for people who have a learning disability or autism. Recent figures estimate that only 5.1% of people with a learning disability are in work, and the autism employment gap sits at around 60%. 

• Develop a robust data collection system that monitors how the SEND system is performing for students aged 16 to 25 years and their preparation for adulthood.
• Enhance and protect strategic joint commissioning so providers can develop responsive and holistic provision to meet the needs of children with profound and multiple learning disabilities and those with complex needs.
• Invest in a wide-reaching campaign to raise awareness amongst public and private sector employers of the benefits of recruiting a diverse workforce of young people with SEND through an apprenticeship route.
• Increase funding for specialist SEND job coaches to help employers to understand the needs of young people with SEND and support students on their route to employment.
• Amend the Specification of Apprenticeship Standards for England to include cognitive assessments identifying learning support needs and implement supported internships as an access route for students with SEND to achieve an apprenticeship.
• Devise a funding and tariff structure that ensures full cost recovery for providers and enables them to meet the Real Living Wage for their workforce.

The social care debate is often focused on the needs of people in later life. Younger autistic adults and those with learning disabilities use social care in different ways. They draw on broader support across education, housing, lifelong learning, employment and involvement in their local communities.
Yet against a backdrop of a pressurised social care system, their hopes, needs and wants for social care are often left out of the debate.

With LSE predictions that LA expenditure on social care for younger adults in England will double to £18.1bn1 over the next 20 years and support for working-aged adults with learning disabilities representing most of this growth, it is essential that their voices are at the table.

The Government pledged to make an “unprecedented investment” in health and social care as part of its ‘Build Back Better‘ plan. The plan acknowledged the chronic institutional problems in social care that were in place well before the COVID-19 pandemic. It recognised the immense pressures social care professionals faced and their importance to the wider system. And it promised to “make care work a more rewarding vocation” by investing in long-term professional development and well-being. 

98% of English Councils surveyed by the Local Government Association don’t believe that the Government’s adult social care plan is funded well enough – for both people drawing on social care and care workers. Staff shortages rose by 52% in 2022 and agency use by 150%. This has directly contributed to a marked decline in care quality in three-quarters of all care homes in England. .

• The cost of social care agency workers exempt from VAT and a capped hourly rate that agencies can charge social care providers, as is already the case for the NHS.
• Frontline social care and health roles to be classed as a special occupation, allowing people in those roles to work more than 16 hours and still be eligible for Income Support or Jobseeker’s Allowance.
• Tying social care pay to the NHS Agenda for Change and benchmarking the minimum pay rate for social care workers to NHS Band 3 (currently £10.40) and to funding its introduction.