The Office for Disability Issues is seeking people to join the new Regional Stakeholder Network in 9 regional groups across England.
Following requests from disabled people’s organisations, the deadline for applying has been extended to 17 April 2019.
They are seeking people that want to make a difference, either as a chair to lead and drive the efforts of their group forward, or a member to share their views and experiences to help government make improvements.
The Regional Stakeholder Network will bring the views of disabled people, local disability organisations, disabled people led organisations, and organisations that represent disabled people closer to government. It will create face-to-face forums and provide a channel for people to share their views about policies and services that affect them.
However, DR UK Deputy CEO Sue Bott, said,
“We can see there may be a benefit to a regional network of disabled people feeding in to government policy – if the DWP are going to take people’s views seriously.
“But it sends a poor message when people involved in the new network are not going to be paid for their time and expertise.
“It inevitably shrinks the available pool of potential applicants to a small number who have both the time, and financial ability, to take part.
“The government’s ambition to halve the disability employment gap is welcome. It’s hard to take it seriously, though, when it demands that disabled people work for nothing.”