Co-production ‘will not be possible without funding from government’

The leading disabled people’s organisation (DPO) in Wales has warned the Welsh and UK governments that co-production of policy with disabled people will not be possible if they fail to provide the funding that they and other DPOs need to survive.

Disability Wales spoke out after it reported a “significant” cut in the funding it receives from the Welsh government, which has contributed to its decision to cut the equivalent of two full-time jobs and launch a restructuring process.

Its equality and inclusion grant from the Welsh government has remained “static” for the last six years, but it has also lost additional funding which effectively doubled its grant and enabled it to carry out specific projects, such as responding to the cost-of-living crisis and promoting understanding of the social model of disability.

Rhian Davies (pictured), chief executive of Disability Wales, told Disability News Service that a “bruising” decade and more of austerity, the Covid pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis had left her organisation and many local DPOs across the country struggling to survive.

She said: “There is a risk that all the rights we thought we secured 20-odd years ago could slip further back.”

The Welsh government and other public bodies have repeatedly stressed their support for engagement and co-production with disabled people and their organisations.

But Davies said her organisation needed to send a strong message to both the Welsh and UK governments, and other public bodies and funders, that this co-production of policy is not possible without proper funding.

She said: “I think there needs to be that recognition that this engagement with disabled people isn’t going to happen if it is not resourced.”

Because of the funding cuts, Disability Wales now has the equivalent of five full-time members of staff, down from 12 during the pandemic when there was funding for several short-term projects.

As well as a review of its structure, Disability Wales plans to survey its members to ask for their views on how they engage with the organisation and what they think its campaign priorities should be.

Davies urged the Welsh government “to acknowledge the crucial role of disabled people’s organisations and commit to providing essential financial support as a key component” in the draft disability action plan it is set to publish and consult on this autumn.

The action plan follows the work of the Disability Rights Taskforce, set up by the Welsh government following the 2021 publication of the groundbreaking Locked Out report on the discrimination experienced by disabled people in Wales, particularly during the pandemic.

Nearly 40 per cent of disabled people in Wales live in poverty, and nearly seven in 10 of those who died Covid-related deaths during the pandemic were disabled people, compared with about six in 10 in England and Wales.

Disability Wales has played a key role on the Disability Rights Taskforce, with Davies herself chairing its independent living working group, and disabled people making up the majority of the 300-plus people who took part in its work examining barriers in areas such as housing, health and transport.

Davies said she hoped there would be positive announcements on co-production in the draft action plan, and a recognition that Disability Wales and other DPOs need to be funded for the vital work they do.

She added: “Public bodies support co-production, but they don’t invest in it, they don’t recognize that it needs to be resourced to enable people to participate equally, and I think that’s the problem.

“Obviously we’ve been trying to raise these issues through the taskforce, and I would want to see that recognised in the action plan, but this is all set against quite a bleak financial landscape.”

But Davies said that without well-funded DPOs, individual disabled people would not be able to access their rights or influence disability-related policy.

She said: “In order for disabled people to exercise the rights they have, they need to be empowered, they need to know what those rights are, they need to have access to resources that enable them to make those rights a reality.

“That is often the role of DPOs, to provide peer support, to provide information.

“And if that structure is not there, then where do individual disabled people turn?”

*Disability Wales is one of the DPOs that subscribe to Disability News Service

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