Welsh government publishes 10-year plan for disability rights… but fails to include any long-term policies

The much-anticipated disability rights plan for Wales has left it to the next Welsh government to come up with a strategy to tackle the long-term barriers disabled people face in their daily lives.

When the Welsh government published its long-awaited plan on Monday (15 December), following a 12-week public consultation, it was accompanied by no major announcements or new funding.

Instead, the Disabled People’s Rights Plan 2025 to 2035 offers more than 60 short-term actions, which the Welsh government expects to be completed by 2027.

Most of these are minor measures, listing actions the Welsh government is already taking, or promising reviews, to update guidance, conduct evaluations, improve engagement, or raise awareness.

There is no pledge in the plan to introduce a right to independent living, no promise to incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into Welsh law, and no commitment to funding disabled people’s organisations, all demands made by Disability Wales in its new manifesto.

There is also no promise to create a new minister for disabled people, another Disability Wales demand.

The explanation for the lack of long-term action is hidden on page 24 of the 80-page document, with the plan admitting: “Future Governments will set the medium to long-term actions they will take to achieve the ambition and outcomes for disabled people set out in this 10-year plan.”

The plan does not even include details of how progress will be measured, with that still to be decided.

But in one of the few new measures announced in the document, a new external advisory board, which will be led by disabled people, will “provide independent advice and guidance” on implementing the plan.

Instead of detailing a long-term strategy, the 80 pages are filled with descriptions of the existing barriers disabled people face across neighbourhoods, places, and transport; employment, income, and education; independent living, health, and social care; and justice and supporting environments.

The plan also lists existing legislation, strategies, action plans, programmes, guidance, frameworks and reviews.

Among the short-term actions announced in a separate document, the government promises an update of anti-bullying and safeguarding guidance; to work with local authorities and transport operators to update data on blue badge parking spaces; and to “collaborate with disabled people’s organisations to design and deliver a new funding stream that addresses social care needs”.

On a right to independent living, it promises only “to continue to work with all providers, including local authorities, to ensure that disabled individuals are able to live independently at home, wherever possible”.

The roots of the plan lie in the ground-breaking Locked Out report, which was co-produced with disabled people, and commissioned by the Welsh government, and which exposed the levels of exclusion experienced by disabled people in Wales during the pandemic.

The report led to a Disability Rights Taskforce and now the Welsh government’s 10-year Disabled People’s Rights Plan.

Chairs of the taskforce’s working groups will be included on the plan’s new external advisory board.

Disabled campaigners who worked on the taskforce were reluctant this week to criticise the Welsh government’s plan, stressing instead the need to pressure future governments to fill out the long-term strategy.

They also highlighted the “unprecedented” level of co-production with disabled people that has taken place.

Disability Wales*, which is part-funded by the Welsh government, declined to comment on the content of the plan.

But DW’s chief executive Rhian Davies, a member of the Disability Rights Taskforce and chair of its independent living/social care working group, said the plan was “born from the dark days of the pandemic, where disabled people were an afterthought in public policy, resulting in high numbers of avoidable deaths and thousands more facing loneliness, isolation and hardship”.

She said: “Coupled with over a decade of austerity and the cost-of-living crisis, many disabled people are ‘barely surviving’.

“Nevertheless, the high level of engagement among disabled people in the work of the taskforce, together with the collective leadership demonstrated by the 10 taskforce working group chairs, shows the resilience and commitment within our community to creating a more inclusive future where disabled people ‘truly thrive’.

“With Senedd elections on the horizon, taking forward delivery of the plan will fall to the new Welsh government working co-productively with the external advisory board, including pinning down detail regarding the actions as well as the measurement framework.

“It is vital that the cross-party commitment secured to date follows through beyond the election to ensure that the demands of disabled people for an equitable and inclusive society in Wales are fully realised.”

Joe Powell, chief executive of All Wales People First, which is also part-funded by the Welsh government, described the plan as “a new and ambitious vision for Wales”, which was “unprecedented in its co-production with disabled people and represents the most detailed and comprehensive involvement and feedback from disabled people to date”.

He said: “For the plan to achieve its intended impact, it is vital that any incoming Welsh government builds on the existing short-term, micro-level targets and develops these into a fully realised macro-level approach over the plan’s 10-year lifespan.

“Without sustained commitment of time and resources, there is a significant risk that the plan will fail to deliver meaningful change, undermining the trust and goodwill of disabled people across Wales.”

Dr Natasha Hirst, a disabled activist who chaired the taskforce’s access to services working group, praised the “positive language and aspirations” of the plan, which were in “stark contrast to the deeply dehumanising and punitive rhetoric and policies of the UK government”.

She said the “long period of genuine co-production with disabled people and our organisations in Wales” had been “an important process for identifying the barriers that exclude us and damage our quality of life and has built an institutional and political commitment to the social model”.

She added: “There’s still much more to be done and it’s essential that we now secure cross-party support for this 10-year plan.

“Political parties must make a firm commitment to taking it forward in their election manifestos and supporting the funding of the work once a new government is in place.”

Jane Hutt, the Welsh government’s cabinet secretary for social justice, said in a statement alongside the plan’s publication: “We are committed to ensuring that disabled people can participate in Welsh society on an equitable basis, free from barriers, and to creating an inclusive and accessible environment for all.

“This 10-year plan represents our commitment to true inclusion and participation.

“I thank the Disability Rights Taskforce and everyone who contributed to the consultation, ensuring the plan is grounded in lived experience.

“We must now all work together to make sure the plan succeeds and that the values of accessibility, inclusion, and co-production are central in all that we do.”

*Disability Wales is a Disability News Service subscriber

Picture: Joe Powell (left) and Dr Natasha Hirst