Improving the life chances of disabled people

[Pages:244]Prime Minister's Strategy Unit

Improving the life chances of disabled people

Final Report

January 2005

A joint report with: Department for Work and Pensions Department of Health Department for Education and Skills Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

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This report is joint with the following departments:

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Contents

Page No

Foreword by the Prime Minister

5

Executive summary

7

1.

Introduction

21

2.

The current situation and its causes

33

3.

Vision and strategy

53

4.

Independent living

69

5.

Early years and family support

101

6.

Transition to adulthood

125

7.

Employment

155

8.

Towards improved delivery

195

9

Implementation

217

Annex A The role of the Strategy Unit

235

Annex B Project team, Sponsor Minister,

Advisory Group and Expert Groups

237

Annex C Bilateral discussions and an overview

of the consultation processes

241

The following annexes can be found on the Strategy Unit website (.uk):

Annex D A review of focus group consultations

Annex E A review of the main messages from responses to the analytical report

Annex F The results of a literature review of the specific issues faced by disabled people with the most complex needs

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Foreword by the Prime Minister

Getting a job or education, travelling between home and work, going for a drink or to the cinema with friends are activities most of us take for granted. But for too many disabled people these ordinary aspects of life remain difficult to achieve.

That is why I asked the Strategy Unit to look at what more we can do to improve disabled people's opportunities, to improve their quality of life and strengthen our society. Despite considerable progress, disabled people are still experiencing disadvantage and discrimination. Barriers ? in attitudes, the design of buildings and policies, for example ? still have to be overcome by disabled people, reducing their opportunities and preventing them fulfilling their potential. Too many services are

organised to suit providers rather than being personalised around the needs of disabled people.

Nor is this a marginal issue. Up to one in five British adults is disabled and can find themselves cut off from the opportunities others enjoy. And our economy and society, too, lose out if we don't use their talents to the full.

This Government is committed to improving the life chances of disabled people. Through the Disability Discrimination Act and the creation of the Disability Rights Commission, new rights are being provided and enforced. We are helping disabled people to get back into work through the New Deal and to have personalised support through Direct Payments.

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But despite progress, there is more to do. Disabled people remain more likely to live in poverty, to have fewer educational qualifications, to be out of work and experience prejudice and abuse. They still routinely find themselves experiencing poorer services.

This report therefore sets out an ambitious vision for improving the life chances of disabled people so that by 2025 disabled people have full opportunities and choices to improve their quality of life and will be respected and included as equal members of society.

I strongly welcome this report and its recommendations, which will be taken forward and implemented as future Government policy. All sections of society will of course have a role to play in realising our vision. But working together I believe we can achieve the transformation in disabled people's life chances that we all seek.

Tony Blair

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

7

1 Executive Summary

Key Points

This report sets out an ambitious programme of action that will bring disabled people fully within the scope of the "opportunity society". By supporting disabled people to help themselves, a step change can be achieved in the participation and inclusion of disabled people.

The report proposes that the Government should set an ambitious vision for improving the life chances of disabled people. `By 2025, disabled people in Britain should have full opportunities and choices to improve their quality of life and will be respected and included as equal members of society'.

Future strategy for disabled people should seek to realise this vision through practical measures in four key areas.

(1) Helping disabled people to achieve independent living by moving progressively to individual budgets for disabled people, drawing together the services to which they are entitled and giving them greater choice over the mix of support they receive in the form of cash and/or direct provision of services. In the shorter term, measures should also be taken to improve the advice services available to disabled people and to address existing problems with suitable housing and transport.

(2) Improving support for families with young disabled children by ensuring families of disabled children benefit from childcare and early education provided to all children; meeting the extra needs of families with disabled children; and ensuring services are centred on disabled children and their families, not on processes and funding streams.

(3) Facilitating a smooth transition into adulthood by putting in place improved mechanisms for effective planning for the transition to adulthood and the support that goes with this; removing "cliff edges" in service provision; and giving disabled young people access to a more transparent and more appropriate menu of opportunities and choices.

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(4) Improving support and incentives for getting and staying in employment by ensuring that support is available well before a benefit claim is made; reforming the gateway onto entitlements; providing effective work-focused training for disabled people; and improving Access to Work and other in-work support ? all of which will see more disabled people in work, contributing to the Government's overall targets for employment.

This package of measures extends choice and improves incentives for disabled people. It should deliver improved outcomes for disabled people, their families and wider society in the short, medium and long-term. The Government has accepted all the recommendations in this report. The strategy will now be driven forward by a new Office for Disability Issues reporting to the Minister for Disabled People. Annual reports on progress will be presented to the Prime Minister and published on the web. Implementation of these measures should take account of the needs of older people who are disabled or who have care requirements.

Disability should be distinguished from impairment and ill health

For the purposes of this report, disability is defined as:

? disadvantage experienced by an individual ...

? ... resulting from barriers to independent living or educational, employment or other opportunities ...

? ... that impact on people with impairments and/or ill health.

A clear distinction needs to be made between disability, impairment and ill-health. Impairments are long-term characteristics of an individual that affect their functioning and/or appearance. Ill health is the shortterm or long-term consequence of disease or sickness.

Many people who have an impairment or ill health would not consider themselves to be disabled.

Disabled people face a wide range of barriers

The types of barriers faced by disabled people include: ? attitudinal, for example among

disabled people themselves and among employers, health professionals and service providers;

? policy, resulting from policy design and delivery which do not take disabled people into account;

? physical, for example through the design of the built environment, transport systems, etc.; and

? those linked to empowerment, as a result of which disabled people are not listened to, consulted or involved.

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