Contents
Government figures show first signs of ‘perverse’ cuts to Access to Work. 3
Concern over ‘deeply worrying’ omission of disabled people from Lords assisted dying committee. 10
Scotland’s next government must act on disability rights, says new disabled people’s manifesto. 12
Home Office ‘uses false claims’ about disabled campaigner to dodge disability hate crime meeting. 14
Other disability-related stories covered by mainstream media this week. 15
Disability hate crime prosecutions tumble again, three years after CPS admitted figures were ‘woeful’
Prosecutions of disability hate crime plummeted again last year, with less than 300 cases taken forward by prosecutors, despite police forces in England and Wales recording more than 10,000 offences.
It is now the seventh year in succession that Disability News Service (DNS) has raised the alarm about plummeting levels of prosecutions of disability hate crime, with little if any action being taken by the police or Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to address the trend.
It comes three years after both CPS and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) finally admitted their performance was not good enough and needed to improve.
Despite those pledges, their levels have continued to deteriorate.
The blame – in National Hate Crime Awareness Week – is centred mainly on the police, as in previous years, for passing on so few cases to prosecutors, despite huge numbers of recorded offences, at more than 10,000 a year.
Levels of disability hate crime estimated by the national crime survey are more than five times higher, at about 56,000 adult victims a year, which police believe is probably the true level of disability hate crime.
The number of disability hate crime prosecutions fell from 306 in 2023-24 to 279 in 2024-25, while the number of convictions has also fallen again, from 233 to just 214 in the whole of England and Wales.
But CPS has told DNS that police forces passed only 328 disability hate crime cases to prosecutors in the whole of 2024-25, another fall compared with 338 in 2023-24.
The Home Office and CPS reports* mean that, in 2016-17, there were about 5,400 disability hate crime offences recorded by police and 1,009 prosecutions (prosecutions making up 18.7 per cent of offences), compared with 10,224 offences and only 279 prosecutions in 2024-25 (with prosecutions just 2.6 per cent of recorded offences)**.
Both CPS and NPCC have been promising to improve their performance on providing justice for victims of disability hate crime since 2022.
CPS said three years ago that statistics that showed that less than 350 disability hate crimes had been prosecuted the previous year made “for woeful reading”, while NPCC said in the same year that the performance of police forces across the country in providing justice for victims of disability hate crime was “not good enough” and must improve.
Since then, the number of prosecutions has continued to fall.
A spokesperson for Inclusion London, which leads the Justice for Disabled Victims disability hate crime campaign, said: “Feeling safe in our community is something that many of us take for granted, but hate crime can tear that safety apart in a single moment.
“Even if somebody is able to report that crime, plummeting prosecution rates mean that we are unable to get justice.
“A new approach is needed, putting people with lived experience, including those who face intersectional hate, at the heart of a new, funded national hate crime strategy.
“Our communities and organisations have vital expertise that the government is missing; it must work with us to shape a better system.”
The National Police Chiefs’ Council refused to comment on the figures, the third consecutive year it has done so.
But a Home Office spokesperson said: “Whilst the police are operationally independent, we expect the police to fully investigate these appalling offences and work with the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure perpetrators of these abhorrent offences are brought to justice.
“We are absolutely committed to tackling all forms of hate crime, and have already committed to protect disabled people by making all existing strands of hate crime an aggravated offence.”
CPS declined to criticise the police, despite police forces only referring 328 suspects to prosecutors in the entire year in relation to disability hate crime.
But Lionel Idan, chief crown prosecutor and CPS hate crime lead, said in a statement: “Disability hate crime has a devastating and far-reaching impact and we will not hesitate to prosecute offenders.
“While we can only take action when passed a file from police, we consistently bring charges in over eight out of every 10 cases when a charging decision is made by the CPS, more than three quarters of which result in a conviction.
“Last year, we published a best-practice guide to investigating and prosecuting disability hate crime, which we developed in close collaboration with leading academic experts, disability charity representatives and the police.
“This has since been used by both CPS prosecutors and the police, to improve how these cases are handled.”
The Home Office figures also show that the number of disability hate crimes recorded by police fell by eight per cent, from 11,131 in 2023-24 to 10,224 in 2024-25, the second consecutive annual fall.
But separate figures from the Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW), which provides estimates of the actual levels of personal and household crimes experienced by adults in England and Wales, rather than those recorded by police, show – according to NPCC – a 12 per cent increase in disability hate crime when comparing the three years from April 2016 to April 2019 with the three years from April 2022 to April 2025.
The latest CSEW figures show an estimated 56,000 adult victims of disability hate crime a year, more than five times larger than the number of offences recorded by police.
NPCC said this suggested disability hate crime offences “are going unreported or unrecorded”, and that the Home Office release “does not reflect a true reduction in crime”.
An NPCC spokesperson said: “We are determined to understand the reasons for this gap in reporting and work with key partners to improve confidence in policing and access to our services.
“NPCC leads will be developing an action plan to ensure we work with stakeholders in this area to address this issue and improve our support for disabled victims of crime.”
Despite the recent rise, the CSEW figures show that disability hate crime did fall by 31 per cent between 2006-2009 and 2022-25.
The Home Office figures also show that 42 per cent of disability hate crimes recorded by police were for allegations of stalking and harassment and 29 per cent were public order offences, while 19 per cent were crimes of violence against individuals.
Overall, there was a two per cent increase in recorded hate crime in 2024-25, with a six per cent increase in race hate crimes and a three per cent rise in religious hate crimes.
There was a 19 per cent increase in hate crimes targeted at Muslims, and an 18 per cent fall in the number targeted at Jews, although the hate crime rate is still far higher for Jewish people, at 106 per 10,000 population, compared with Muslim people, at 12 per 10,000.
*See table 9.1
**The Home Office recorded hate crime figures exclude the Metropolitan police, for statistical reasons, so the true prosecution rate for 2024-25 will be even lower
16 October 2025
Government figures show first signs of ‘perverse’ cuts to Access to Work
Official government figures have shown the first signs that ministers have been engaged in a “perverse” programme to secretly restrict grants made by the Access to Work disability employment scheme.
The new Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures show that the number of people who had any Access to Work (AtW) provision approved fell by more than 10 per cent in the year to March 2025.
The figures show that the number of disabled people who had AtW requests for aids and equipment approved plunged by 16 per cent on the previous year, while approvals for support for travel to work fell by 14 per cent.
And, at a time when ministers and opposition politicians are repeatedly suggesting that not enough people with mental distress or ill-health are in work, the number of approvals for mental health support from the government scheme dropped by seven per cent.
One disabled campaigner who works with AtW claimants said figures from the last six months – not due to be published for another 12 months – will eventually show how the cuts to essential funding are “far more severe” than those shown in the new publication.
Only last week, evidence from the disabled people’s organisation Action on Disability (AoD) showed the average AtW support hours of disabled people it has been working with had plunged from 22.5 to just four in the last two-and-a-half years.
The previous week, Sir Stephen Timms, the social security and disability minister, admitted signing off on orders that have led to widespread cuts to AtW support packages since Labour came to power.
The number of disabled people receiving AtW continued to rise last year, from 67,240 in 2023-24 to 74,190 in 2024-25, but this appears to be because AtW grants are typically awarded over three years.
For the same reason, total AtW spending rose to £320.7 million, an increase of 17 per cent in real terms compared to 2023-24.
The group that received the largest proportion of AtW spending was claimants who were “Deaf or hard of hearing”, with 28 per cent, or £90.3 million; followed by those with a “mental health condition”, at 12 per cent of spending, or £38.3 million; people with “difficulty in seeing” at 12 per cent, or £38.2 million; and those with “learning disability” at 11 per cent of total spending.
DWP refused to say if the latest figures showed that the months of concerns over cuts to support were well-placed and whether the department was making it harder to claim AtW just at a time when ministers were trying to get more disabled people into work.
But it did confirm that Access to Work awards are approved for up to three years, so customers receiving payments in 2024-25 may have been approved for support at any point between 2021-22 and 2024-25.
This means there is likely to be a time lag between any cut in the number of awards approved and that showing up in DWP figures.
Disability consultant Alice Hastie, who specialises in providing AtW advice, said it was no surprise that the impact of the cuts was beginning to show up in the DWP statistics, although she said the “true extent of the reductions is being masked”.
She told DNS: “Current figures still include payments to existing claimants on three-year awards, and they don’t yet reflect the escalation in cuts that began after May this year; the published data only runs to April.
“What I, and many other supporting organisations, are seeing on the ground is far more severe: widespread and deep cuts to essential Access to Work funding.
“Every week, I speak to distressed claimants who have had long-standing support suddenly reduced or new applications refused altogether.
“One recent example involves a blind claimant who had their funded taxi travel removed after being told they could use public transport instead.
“Multiple case managers ignored the fact that this person requires staff support to reach, board, and disembark from trains – support that isn’t available late at night when their shift ends.
“As a result, they’ve been forced to pay £60 per journey out of their own pocket for over a year, while their case remains unresolved.
“Shockingly, a case manager even asked them whether they held a driving licence.
“Access to Work is supposed to remove barriers for disabled people, not create new ones.
“What we’re seeing instead is a system that’s being quietly dismantled – with devastating consequences for disabled workers and their ability to remain in employment.”
David Buxton, AoD’s chief executive, said: “The new figures confirm what many Deaf and disabled people and employers have been saying for months: Access to Work is being quietly squeezed.
“Fewer people are getting new support approved, and that’s having a real and damaging impact on people’s ability to start or keep their jobs.
“Access to Work should be opening doors, not quietly closing them.”
Caroline Collier, from Inclusion Barnet’s Campaign for Disability Justice, said: “Access to Work is a vital support that unlocks opportunities for disabled people.
“Given that there is ever-increasing pressure to find work, it seems perverse to be rationing this support when it plays a key role in so many disabled people’s working lives.
“We call on government to make adequate investment in this crucial scheme, speed up assessment times and embrace Access to Work as a real and effective enabler for disabled people.”
Despite Sir Stephen’s admission that he signed off on an order for AtW staff to apply guidance more “scrupulously”, the department claimed again yesterday (Wednesday) that no changes had been made to Access to Work policy.
A DWP spokesperson said in a statement: “Spending on Access to Work has risen year on year and is supporting thousands of sick or disabled people to start or stay in work, but the scheme we inherited is failing employees and employers.
“That’s why we’re working with disabled people and their organisations to improve the scheme – ensuring people have the support, skills, and opportunities to move into good, secure jobs as part of our Plan for Change.”
16 October 2025
Disabled claimants losing out by hundreds of pounds a month through hidden impact of universal credit
Disabled people have suddenly become up to £200 pounds a month worse off because of unexpected impacts of being moved from their old “legacy” benefits onto universal credit.
Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) has been hearing from disabled people who have been hit hard in two different ways by the migration process, neither of which appear to have been predicted by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The impact has come despite disabled people being told that they would – at least initially – be no worse off on universal credit than on their previous benefits.
The problems impact on support provided to disabled people by their local councils.
DPAC is now considering whether a legal action might be possible, and it is now looking for disabled people who are eligible for legal aid and might be willing to take a legal challenge with DPAC’s support.
DPAC has been hearing of two ways in which the migration process has hit disabled people in unexpected ways.
In the first, disabled people who are already forced to pay care charges to their local council have seen these charges increase after migrating from employment and support allowance (ESA) onto universal credit, in some cases by more than £50 a week.
The council often only becomes aware the claimant has moved onto universal credit months after the migration, which leaves the disabled person with large arrears of care charges to pay.
DPAC believes these increased charges could be because certain disability-related premiums awarded under ESA – and previously disregarded by councils when calculating care charges – no longer apply under the universal credit system.
A second group of disabled people – apparently some of those who do not receive council-funded social care – are receiving a lower discount under their local council tax reduction scheme after migrating onto universal credit.
DPAC says universal credit payments seem to be treated differently than legacy benefits and that some disabled people are now paying 40 per cent of their council tax bills when previously they would pay nothing, with some now paying as much as £200 a month more.
This week, DWP refused to say if it was aware of these two concerns, if it was concerned, and whether it would take any action.
It also declined to provide an update on how many ESA claimants are still waiting to be migrated onto universal credit.
But it said in a briefing note that councils are responsible for assessing how much a person can be charged for care, while the Care Act 2014 requires that care charges are affordable, clear and transparent.
And it said that local authorities are responsible for designing council tax reduction schemes to support low-income households, and that councils have discretion to apply different rules for treating benefits such as universal credit relative to previous legacy benefits.
DPAC also pointed this week to the impact of rent increases on disabled people who have moved onto universal credit.
DWP had previously warned about this impact.
When rent increases, the housing element of universal credit also increases, but the total universal credit a migrated claimant is paid can stay the same, which means they are left with less to live on.
This is because the transitional protection paid to many of those moved onto universal credit by DWP through the “managed migration” process – which ensures a claimant is initially no worse off when they move across to the new benefit – is eaten away over time by inflation and often by other changes in circumstances.
DWP said that transitional protection was designed to be temporary, gradually reducing over time, so all universal credit claimants in similar situations are treated equally, regardless of whether they moved from old benefits or applied as a new claimant.
It confirmed that the transitional element decreases as other universal credit elements increase.
A DWP spokesperson said in a statement: “We support millions of people through universal credit every year – including those who have moved from ESA – and it’s a top priority for us to ensure that people receive the help they are entitled to.”
Linda Burnip, a DPAC co-founder, said: “While transitional protection in universal credit is designed for people to get poorer slowly year by year as the top-up amount reduces when the basic universal credit rates increase, there seems to also be no tie-in between incomes remaining the same and actions by local authorities with regard to the loss of council tax reduction and social care charging.
“We have been told by numerous people that in some areas care charges have increased from around £46 a week to over £100 a week [and that some] people have lost all or most of their council tax reduction with people paying as much as £208 a month for council tax when before migration to universal credit they paid nothing.
“Rent increases too are having to be absorbed by disabled people from a limited pot of money which they’re paid, leaving less for them to spend on ever-increasing living costs such as food and fuel.
“These issues are obviously causing great anxiety as, although having been told they would be no worse off on universal credit, many people are now paying out significant amounts of money they didn’t have to pay before migration.”
16 October 2025
Ministers leave door open to continuing ‘absolute scandal’ of inappropriate Mental Health Act detention
A disabled MP has failed to persuade ministers to show exactly what progress they are making towards ensuring there are enough community services to halt the “scandal” of disabled people being inappropriately detained under the Mental Health Act.
Current mental health laws mean it is possible for an autistic person or someone with a learning difficulty to be detained under the act without any associated mental ill-health.
Labour MP Jen Craft told fellow MPs on Tuesday that this was “an absolute scandal” and “something from a previous age that should be a source of moral shame to everyone in our community”.
Although she said the government’s mental health bill seeks to address this by “removing autism or a learning disability, in and of themselves, as criteria for detention under the Mental Health Act”, a government impact assessment admitted that this measure “will only be switched on when systems are able to demonstrate sufficient level of community support”.
She said: “We know that this government and the Department of Health and Social Care have a number of competing priorities to deliver on, and the concern for people who fall into this bracket under the legislation is that their concerns just will not be addressed and that this absolute scandal will continue in perpetuity.
“People who have a learning disability or autism will be detained because our community services just are not up to snuff; we have so categorically failed them that the only thing we can think to do is to lock them away from society.”
She was hoping to secure the government’s support for her proposal to end the scandal, by adding a new clause to the bill as it passed one of its final stages in parliament.
Her clause would have ensured the government had to co-produce a “road map” that would describe what autistic people and people with learning difficulties need “to support them to lead independent dignified lives in the community”, with an annual report describing “how we are getting community services to a sufficient place so that these much-needed clauses in the bill can be switched on”.
But care minister Stephen Kinnock said the government would not support her new clause.
He told MPs: “I acknowledge the importance of having a clear plan to resource community provision for people with a learning disability and autistic people to implement these reforms.
“We have committed ourselves to an annual written ministerial statement on implementation of the bill post royal assent.”
He promised to “work with stakeholders, including people with lived experience, to shape our road map” for implementing the changes Craft referred to.
He said: “The written ministerial statements will give updates on progress, as well as setting out future plans.”
But he added: “It is not possible at this stage for us to commit ourselves to the specifics of implementation and community support, which depend on the final legislation passed, future spending reviews, and engagement with stakeholders to get implementation planning right.”
The bill – supported this week by both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats – now passes to the Lords to vote on changes that have been made by MPs since peers passed the mental health bill earlier this year.
Based on draft legislation drawn up by the last Conservative government, the bill has passed almost unnoticed through the Lords and the Commons, despite significant concerns raised by disabled campaigners.
The UN committee on the rights of persons with disabilities raised serious concerns in July that the bill was breaching the international disability rights convention.
Disabled activists believe it falls far short of the fundamental reforms needed to ensure full human rights for disabled people, and that it will not stop them being subjected to forcible detention and degrading treatment.
There have also been protests by autistic people and people with learning difficulties, who believe the bill will not do enough to keep them out of mental health hospitals, or protect them from badly-run hospital services that have led to cruelty, abuse, and even deaths.
The user-led, rights-based organisation Liberation, which is run by people with mental health diagnoses, has led criticism of the bill for ignoring, dismissing and misrepresenting calls for “full human rights” for people experiencing acute mental distress or trauma, and autistic people and those with learning difficulties.
Dorothy Gould, founder of Liberation, said the passing of the bill by MPs was a “day of shame for all political parties”.
She said: “Not one of them has seized the opportunity to put forward legislation which finally gives disabled people the same human rights as other UK citizens.
“Instead, they have done the opposite.
“During parliamentary debates, too, there has not been any senior politician, nor any MP who has brought up, let alone supported, the serious human rights concerns which Liberation has raised on behalf of people experiencing mental distress and trauma.
“Nor has even one of them addressed the weak evidence base which lies at the heart of the bill’s continuing authorisation of coercion against us.
“Politicians’ entrenched emphasis on just ‘improving’ a fundamentally discriminatory law, the Mental Health Act 1983, instead of bringing in radical change, is sheer discrimination.
“It can only result in continuing trauma for people who are already in acute distress.
“It is utterly shameful and utterly devastating.”
16 October 2025
Concern over ‘deeply worrying’ omission of disabled people from Lords assisted dying committee
Campaigners say it is “deeply worrying” that there does not appear to have been a single disabled peer appointed to a new House of Lords committee set up to consider proposed new laws that will legalise assisted dying.
Peers this week agreed the 13 cross-party members of a select committee that will consider the “safeguards and procedures” contained in the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill.
The committee includes four Labour peers, three Conservatives, two Liberal Democrats, three crossbenchers, and one bishop.
It includes Labour’s Baroness [Luciana] Berger, whose amendment to the bill led last month to peers agreeing to set up the committee.
It also includes Baroness Finlay, a crossbench peer and consultant in palliative medicine, a prominent opponent of legalisation; Lord Hope, another crossbencher and former deputy president of the Supreme Court; the Labour peer Baroness Scotland, former secretary-general of the Commonwealth; and Lord [Robert] Winston, a Labour peer and pioneering fertility scientist and TV presenter.
The committee is chaired by Conservative peer Lord [Nick] Markham, a non-executive director and board member of the Department for Work and Pensions for nearly 10 years, between 2013 and 2022.
The committee is likely to take oral evidence from professional bodies, ministers, and those with professional experience of inquests, and will report back to the House of Lords by 7 November.
About two-thirds of peers who spoke last month during the second reading of the bill – which has already been approved by MPs – suggested they were opposed to the legislation as it stood.
Yesterday (Wednesday), Not Dead Yet UK, the disabled people’s grassroots group which sees legalisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia as “deadly forms of disability discrimination”, raised concerns about the apparent failure of the House of Lords to include anyone who identified as disabled on the committee.
Phil Friend, NDY UK’s convener, said it was “deeply worrying that there appear to be no disabled people” on the select committee.
He said: “Disabled people will be among those most affected, yet once again our voices are missing from the table.
“Without lived experience, the committee risks overlooking the realities of subtle coercion and the daily pressures caused by inadequate care and support.
“Disabled people must be included in shaping any discussion of a law that could so profoundly affect our lives.”
But disabled crossbench peer Baroness [Tanni] Grey-Thompson, who has campaigned against legalisation for more than a decade, said she was not concerned with the committee’s membership.
She said she had decided not to nominate herself for a place on the committee so she could work on amendments to the bill.
She said she had worked with many of the committee members and believed “that they understand the issues within the remit of the committee”.
She added: “It is there to only take evidence not to comment on it.
“I will be closely looking at those who are going to be invited to give evidence to make sure that disabled people are represented in the evidence that is provided.”
A spokesperson for the House of Lords said in a statement: “The membership of the committee on the terminally ill adults bill was agreed by the house in the usual way.
“Its make-up reflects a diverse and balanced range of views on the bill and balance between parties and groups in the house.
“The committee’s role is to gather evidence on the safeguards and procedures contained in the bill.
“It will hear evidence from organisations with a wide range of views.
“It will then make that evidence available to inform the house’s scrutiny of the bill but will not make recommendations.
“The house’s further scrutiny of the bill at committee and report stage will be conducted by the whole house and all members will be able to take part.”
16 October 2025
Scotland’s next government must act on disability rights, says new disabled people’s manifesto
The next Scottish government needs to listen to disabled people and take action to ensure the systemic change needed to realise their rights, according to a new manifesto drawn up by a national disabled people’s organisation (DPO).
Inclusion Scotland says in its Manifesto for Inclusion 2026 – released ahead of next year’s Scottish Parliament elections – that disabled people and their organisations have been “deprioritised, underfunded and disregarded for too long”.
Its manifesto – developed over more than a year through workshops with disabled people across Scotland – calls for action across seven key areas.
It focuses on independent living; an adequate standard of living; co-production; education and employment; climate justice for disabled people; accessible communities; and human rights.
Inclusion Scotland said it was releasing the manifesto as disabled people’s rights were again under threat, with “renewed cruel attacks on essential support, the cost of living continuing to increase, a social care support system that is still inadequate, and an uncertain funding landscape for our disabled people’s organisations”.
Among its calls is for “radical reform” of the adult social care and support system, and the removal of all care charges for non-residential social care.
It also calls for an increase in the levels of adult disability payment – which has replaced personal independence payment in Scotland – to “uplift disabled people out of poverty”, and efforts to make sure everyone eligible is receiving it.
And it demands fair funding for DPOs, and for DPOs and disabled people to be involved “across the board” in policy development, planning and delivery.
On employment, it calls for the Access to Work scheme to be devolved to Scotland and a new version co-designed with disabled people.
The manifesto also warns that the Scottish government and local authorities have been “failing to consider the needs of disabled people when planning for climate disasters”, which “needs to change”, with lessons that must be learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises, “in order to stop preventable harm and yet further violations of our human rights”.
The document also demands a commitment to a better accessible transport system after 2026, and improved availability of accessible and adaptable housing for disabled people.
And on rights, the manifesto calls for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to be “fully incorporated” into Scottish law and for there to be “accountability and responsibility” for disabled people’s rights “at the highest level of government”.
Heather Fisken, Inclusion Scotland’s chief executive, said: “We need to start seeing immediate systemic change to address the deep-seated inequality we face in every domain of life.
“The asks in this manifesto are not new.
“Disabled people have been demanding these changes for decades only to have commitments revoked, [and] policies scrapped or inadequately implemented.
“The next Scottish government needs to not only listen to disabled people but act.
“Change is the only way to ensure disabled people’s human rights are realised and we can be active and equal parts of our communities.”
16 October 2025
Home Office ‘uses false claims’ about disabled campaigner to dodge disability hate crime meeting
The government has been accused of “hiding behind false claims” and failing disabled people who are being targeted by disability hate, while dodging a meeting with a leading disabled people’s organisation.
The Home Office’s commitment to tackling disability hate crime has been questioned in National Hate Crime Awareness Week, after it said it was too busy to meet disabled campaigners over their calls for action.
Inclusion London, which leads the Justice for Disabled Victims campaign, had told the Home Office that far more needed to be done to address disability hate crime, and repeatedly requested a meeting to discuss strengthening the law.
It believes that not enough has been done in the government’s crime and policing bill to strengthen the law, and has also contacted MPs and peers to pass on its concerns.
Although one extension of the law on disability hate crime is set to be added to the bill, disabled people’s organisations say this is not enough.
A civil servant from the Home Office’s Neighbourhood Crime Unit told Inclusion London last month that the government was determined to tackle disability hate crime, and that it was considering further action.
They said the government was “considering how we can strengthen our engagement” with the disability sector, but they added: “Due to diary pressures, we are unable to offer a meeting.”
They also claimed that Dame Diana Johnson, the then minister for policing and crime prevention, met with members of the National Hate Crime Independent Advisory Group, including a disabled campaigner, in June.
But Inclusion London has since discovered that this disabled campaigner did not attend the meeting.
It said the Home Office had been caught “making false claims about engagement with disabled people”.
Louise Holden, Inclusion London’s senior policy officer for disabled people and crime, said: “With hate crime on the rise and increasing hostility in our society, it is vital for us to have better protections if we are targeted.
“The government’s lack of interest or willingness to understand the issues is yet more proof that disabled people just don’t matter to them.”
The government has promised to extend the law so that standalone “aggravated offences” would also apply to disability hate crime and hate crime motivated by sexual orientation or transgender identity.
This would mean an offender could be charged with an offence – such as assault, harassment or criminal damage – that was aggravated by hostility towards a disabled person, and they would then face a tougher sentence if convicted.
At present, aggravated offences only apply to racial and religious hostility, and a disability hate crime can only be addressed by a court during sentencing, where the sentence can be increased if prosecutors can prove the offence was motivated by disability-related hostility.
The extension is due to be made through an amendment to the crime and policing bill when it reaches the committee stage in the House of Lords in the next few weeks.
The aggravated offences change was recommended by the Law Commission nearly four years ago, but it also made two other key recommendations to strengthen disability hate crime laws.
It called for existing offences of stirring up hatred, which only apply to race and religion, to be extended to disabled and LGBT+ victims, and it said an offender should be found guilty of a disability hate crime offence if they had been “motivated” by “hostility or prejudice” towards disabled people, rather than – at present – only by hostility.
The Home Office claims it is “carefully considering” these two further extensions.
This week, the Home Office had refused to comment by noon today (Thursday) on the claims about the ministerial meeting in June, and that it had not told the truth about the presence of a disabled campaigner at the meeting.
But it said in a statement, which repeated the response it issued to a completely different story about disability hate crime (see separate story): “We are absolutely committed to tackling all forms of hate crime and have already committed to protect disabled people by making all existing strands of hate crime an aggravated offence.
“Whilst the police are operationally independent, we expect the police to fully investigate these appalling offences and work with the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure perpetrators of these abhorrent offences are brought to justice.”
16 October 2025
Other disability-related stories covered by mainstream media this week
Disabled people and campaign groups will have direct influence over the government’s forthcoming review of personal independence payment, Sir Stephen Timms has told The i Paper. The minister for social security and disability said the review would be led by two co-chairs and a steering group “of about a dozen people, most of whom will be disabled”, including representatives of disabled people’s organisations: https://archive.ph/er9jv
The number of people in England who are frightened of living near people with mental health conditions has nearly doubled to one in seven, which experts warn reflects an “alarming rise in stigma”. Even if the person had recovered from mental ill-health, one in 10 people said they would be unwilling to live next to them, according to new research from mental health charity Mind: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/oct/15/alarming-rise-in-mental-health-stigma-in-england-research-shows
Disadvantaged children are more likely to have special educational needs but are less likely to get specialist support, research shows today. The Sutton Trust said children from poorer homes “experience a double disadvantage” and are being failed by a system “beset with inconsistency and mind-boggling bureaucracy”: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/poorer-children-more-likely-send-36074147
The Civil Aviation Authority has launched a consultation on airlines’ mishandling of mobility aids, so it can assess the extent of loss, delay and damage. It said anxiety at the prospect of loss or damage affects mobility aid users’ willingness to travel, and greater transparency would help users “make an informed choice” about travelling and “incentivise airlines and airports” to improve the handling of aids: https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/more-than-100-disabled-air-passengers-wheelchairs-a-month-lost-or-damaged
16 October 2025
News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com
