In September 2024, on publication of the final Grenfell Tower Report, Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner strongly committed to implementing the Inquiry's recommendations, particularly Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) for Disabled residents. These commitments included Keir Starmer promising "much more radical action to stop something like this from ever happening again".
Yet, just three months later, the Government has gone back on its word. Instead of implementing PEEPs, it is proposing that fire risk assessments be undertaken for those in high-rise blocks. Such assessments are no way near a PEEP. Adding insult to injury, such assessments are now called "residential PEEPs."
In September, we issued a statement alongside a coalition of organisations and specialists, stating that "the way that the rights and risks to life of Disabled people were "brushed aside" by the Government and viewed as "too difficult" reflected a culture of indifference in the years leading up to the fire that was enabled by consistent failure to involve DPOs and Disabled people."
Shockingly, the new Labour Government is now rejecting the Grenfell Tower Inquiry recommendations on PEEPs, just as the previous Conservative Government did, despite evidence that they are practical, safe, and proportionate.
Close to half (43.25%) of Disabled adults present in Grenfell Tower on the night of the fire were killed. None of them had been provided with a PEEP. We are dismayed that the Government has so quickly turned its back on our community. Once again, the interests of private businesses and public organisations have been prioritised over people's lives.
All Disabled residents in all residential blocks should be given the right to a PEEP if they need support and adjustments to leave the block in the event of a fire. This is what needs to be done if Disabled lives are to be equally valued.
We urge the Government to do the right thing and require building owners and managers to implement Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans, as the Grenfell Tower Inquiry report recommends.