Disability Rights - EHRC



Personal Independence Payment (PIP) was introduced in the 2012 Welfare Act. It was brought in to replace Disability Living Allowance (support with care needs) and Employment and Support Allowance (support claimants in work). It is available from the age to 16 to 64. Those over 64 are not eligible to claim the allowance, although if already on the allowance at 65 the claimant will remain eligible.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission produced a report in 2019 looking at state of Human Rights in the UK in 2018. The report was highly damning of the government's record on Human Rights, particularly in respect of disabled people.


 * "Changes to the welfare system since 2010 have made life harder for those in poverty,  and this disproportionately affects a large number of disabled people, women, and  people from ethnic minorities. Child poverty  and homelessness have also continued to rise"

The commission noted that since 2015 access to justice has been severely curtailed due to cuts to legal aid and the disastrous impact of employment tribunal fees blocking people's right to bring to justice employers who have flouted the law.

Some key findings by EHRC on Disability Rights:


 * Poverty is particularly prevalent among disabled people
 * In line with the EHRC 2015 report, UK-wide reforms to welfare and tax since 2010 continue to  have a disproportionate impact on the poorest in society
 * These reforms are pulling more people into poverty, particularly disabled people
 * Homelessness is also on the rise, putting more people in a precarious position and particularly affecting people from ethnic minorities, disabled people and other at-risk groups
 * Disabled people are not enjoying the progress experienced by other groups. Their right to an inclusive education is not being fulfilled – in fact, the proportion of disabled children at special rather than mainstream schools has increased in England and Wales
 * The disability pay gap persists, with disabled people earning less per hour on average than non-disabled people
 * Disabled people are more likely to be in low-pay occupations and this likelihood has increased
 * Disabled people are also more likely to be in poverty
 * Those who can’t work rely on an increasingly restricted welfare regime that is projected to lower their living standards even further
 * They also face poorer health and lack of access to suitable housing


 * "There should be an acute focus on improving life in Britain for disabled people. Government should remove its reservations to Article 24, the right to inclusive education, of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The UK Government should also regularly report on progress in meeting its commitment to get one million more disabled people into work over the next 10 years, and support flexible and part-time working to help close the employment and pay gap. We want  to see more disabled people participating in public and civic life, and to this end political parties should work with governments to  ensure funding for disabled candidates’ additional costs related to their impairment."

Education

The UN has voiced concerns about the education of disabled children in the UK. In 2017, it reviewed the UK’s progress against the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). It expressed objections to the UK’s growing reliance on special schools (this is more of an issue in England than elsewhere) and claimed that the education system is not yet equipped to deliver high-quality, inclusive education in mainstream settings. According to the UN, the UK should commit to ensuring all disabled children receive an inclusive education.

There are also concerns about the legal framework surrounding disabled children’s rights to redress in the education system. Tribunals in England, Scotland and Wales do not currently have the power to award financial compensation when they make a finding of disability discrimination in schools (unlike cases involving race discrimination, for example). The UN has said that the UK should make sure that tribunals have powers to grant appropriate legal remedies in cases of disability discrimination and/or harassment against schoolchildren, including the power to award compensation.

In 2016/17, 67.6% of girls and 60.3% of boys attained grades 9–4 in English and Mathematics. The difference was very large between pupils with Special Education Needs (SEN), 25.0% of whom attained these grades, compared with those without SEN (70.4%). These figures clearly indicate the government is failing in meeting the education needs of SEN children.

Work

Since 2010 there has been an increase in the proportion of disabled people inlow-pay occupations. Disabled people are more likely than non-disabledpeople to be in low-pay occupations.

While rates of employment of disabled people have improved, the employment rate for non-disabled people aged 16–64 (81.1%) was still significantly higher than for disabled people aged 16–64 (50.7%) in January to March 2018 (ONS, 2018b), although the disability gap has narrowed from 32.7 percentage points in January to March 2015 to 30.3 percentage points in January to March 2018.21 Disabled people are more likely to be economically inactive than non-disabled people; in the same period 3.3 million disabled people aged 16–64 were economically inactive. This meant that 44.2% of disabled people of working age were neither in work, nor looking for work, compared with only 15.9% of non-disabled people. Disabled people of working age were also more likely than non-disabled people to be unemployed (9.1%, compared with 3.6%), although the disability gap has narrowed from 6.2 percentage points in January to March 2015 to 5.6 percentage points in January to March 2018 (ONS, 2018b). The employment rate gap between disabled and non-disabled people is particularly wide for those aged 50–64 (Powell, 2018). Employment rates for disabled people also vary considerably according to the type of impairment; in March 2018, less than a quarter of people with learning difficulties, a speech impediment or mental health conditions were in employment (Powell, 2018).