Links to manifestos and information on key proposals related to disabled people.
- alliance
- democratic unionist
- green
- sinn fein
- social democratic and labour party
- ukip
- ulster unionist
NI assembly elections
Alliance party
Benefits
The Alliance party recognises certain benefits constraints, which neatly highlights a delemma for benefit policy in Northern Ireland.
“Alliance did not support the Welfare Reform Act 2012, which drastically reduced benefits for a whole range of people. We also oppose the new cuts proposed by the Conservative Government.
However, we have always accepted that Northern Ireland is not in a financial position to run its own, independent welfare system. Benefit claimant rates here are too high, and the local tax base too small, for a separate Northern Ireland benefits system to be affordable. Furthermore,
we do not have the economies of scale for a standalone computer system to administer a separate system of benefits. We have always been realistic about making affordable changes to the benefits system to ensure that it is fairer than the system used for the rest of the UK.”
With that in mind the manifesto pledges:
- To support the re-introduction of a small charge for those able to pay for their prescriptions – however children, senior citizens, pregnant women, people in receipt of benefits and those with chronic/long term conditions/illnesses would be exempt.
- To reform welfare assessments so that people with lifelong, debilitating conditions do not need regular re-assessment.
- To continue to oppose the bedroom tax.
- To implement an easier process for scrutiny and transparency of any private companies responsible for medical assessments for welfare by both legislation and procurement.
- To oppose onerous obligations being placed on people who are in receipt of benefits.
- To bring in a ‘yellow card’ system for benefit sanctions which would allow recipients the opportunity for an explanation and the introduction of more stringent requirements before a sanction is considered.
Hate crime
- To continue to work in partnership with agencies through the Hate Crime Action Group, and more widely, on initiatives to tackle hate crime; and provide practical support to victims under the Hate Incidents Practical Action Scheme.
Social care
- Support for the Independent Living Fund.
- Commitment to free personal care for those in residential or nursing homes.
- Work to end short, 15-minute visits from care workers in domiciliary settings.
- Support the ongoing implementation of the Bamford Review of Mental Health and Learning – various initiatives proposed.
- Provide of better day opportunities for people with a learning disability, including retention of day centres, with a specific emphasis on transport needs.
Transport
- Advocate for the installation of both audio and visual announcements across all forms of public transport and develop other mechanisms for making public transport as user-friendly as possible.
- Make streets as user friendly as possible.
Work
- Implement the Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities.
- Provide specific assistance for disabled people and their employers to allow access to work.
- following the ‘Employability Programme for Deaf People’
- Tailored interventions to assist the long-term unemployed.
- Support ongoing delivery of employability-related programmes for people with learning disabilities through the use of the European Social Fund.
- Ensure wide-range of opportunities for recipients of benefits to re-skill or re-train.
Democratic Unionist
Heating
- The DUP will fight for NI to be included into Westminster’s Warm Homes Discount Scheme.
Social care
- Examine ways to support carers who are facing financial difficulties by looking at ideas such as a scheme for Carers to provide free public transport and rate relief for Carers.
Democratic Unionist Party manifesto
Green Party
Benefits
- Continue to oppose the bedroom tax.
- Retain free prescriptions, but introduce a voluntary payment scheme for those who wish to contribute to the cost of their prescriptions.
Social care
- Promote the vision for mental health and learning disability services outlined in the Bamford Review.
Sinn Fein
Disability
- Strengthen Disability legislation and bring forward a new Disability strategy
Social Democratic and Labour Party
Benefits
“By handing back welfare powers to London, Sinn Féin and the DUP agreed, through the Westminster backdoor, a benefits freeze for four years up to 2020 for every claimant in Northern Ireland.
The SDLP opposed this transfer of welfare powers to Westminster and recognise the devastating impact it will have on vulnerable individuals and deprived communities.”
- SDLP calls for a bespoke welfare reform committee, to run in tandem with any proposed changes to welfare reform from Westminster.
Disability accessibility
- Call for a comprehensive review of all public buildings, city centres and tourist destinations to ensure they are Disability Friendly.
- Review current discrimination legislation to determine if it is delivering effective outcomes in access for those with disabilities.
- Expand the availability and accessibility of public transport systems.
- Ensure a proactive approach to meeting access needs through new planning guidelines.
- Support campaigns that promote new awareness of disability issues such as the Every Customer Counts” initiative.
Social care
- Ensure sufficient funds are made available to improve mental health services as set out in the Bamford Review and that funding is ring-fenced from any budget cuts.
- Call for a regional review of mental health services to examine the extent of which services are fragmented, especially in rural areas.
Social Democratic and Labour Party manifesto
UKIP
Nothing of note.
Ulster Unionist Party
Benefits
- Protect free prescriptions.
Ulster Unionist Party manifesto
Scottish parliament elections
Conservative Party
Benefits
- Align carer’s allowance rates with jobseeker’s allowance;
- Protect winter fuel payments and cold weather payments when they are devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
Health
- Gradually re-introduce prescription charges to fund health services.
- Give patients more control over their own health records and improve their involvement in their own care - “no decision about me without me” approach.
- Consider allowing health boards and GPs to levy fines from those patients who miss their appointments three times
Social care
- Consider whether attendance allowance, disability living allowance and personal independence payment should be part of an integrated health and social care system, devolved to health boards, local authorities or new partnerships, as part of personalisation of budgets.
Work
- Set up a Work Choice successor programme with increased funding to provide dedicated employability support for the disabled, with a clear target of halving the disabled employment gap in Scotland.
Conservative manifesto and BBC at a glance
Green Party
Benefits
- Campaign for a 50 per cent increase in carer’s allowance payments to £93.15 per week.
- Consider setting up a young carer’s grant.
- Redesign carer’s allowance so that it has a lower threshold than the current 35 hours of care and a top-up for people who care for more than one person.
- Exclude carer's allowance from income assessments for local authority non-residential care charges.
- All PIP claims to be granted initially to ensure disabled people receive immediate support. Where additional evidence is required to fight for paper, online or telephone procedures to be used to assess personal independence payment claims rather than face-to-face assessments.
- Push for abolition of repeat personal independence payment assessments for people with chronic or degenerative illnesses with a low chance of improvement.
- Call for a minimum re-assessment period.
- Call for review of DLA and PIP to examine the current stoppage of support during hospital stays, the appeals procedure and the PIP points assessment system.
Hate crime
- Work to improve research, data collection and reporting processes.
- More rights-based training for police and staff within the justice system on equality issues
Inclusion
- Scottish Greens will take a lead from disabled people’s organisations to promote a coproduced Strategy for Inclusion which works towards equal access to resources, fulfilling employment, public services, and participation in politics and public life.
Social care
- Progressive taxation to pay for social care.
- Re carer’s needs, campaign for adequate resources to implement support and to help make sure those needs can be met with good quality support such as replacement care, short breaks, health checks and concessionary travel for carers on income support.
- Recognition that young carers also need extra support. Will ensure their voices are heard in any discussion of carers’ rights.
- Back an independent social care tribunal system to help carers and those they care for to realise their existing rights.
- Support the Declaration of Rights for Mental Health – and will fight for resources to be made available for this.
Sport
- Green MSPs support the expansion of Scotland’s sports clubs through support for volunteering, accessible facilities and funding to enable more disabled people to participate.
Transport
- Invest in making services fully accessible to all disabled people.
- Extend the free bus pass to unpaid carers on benefits.
- Provide enhanced support to community transport schemes.
- Ban pavement parking.
- Call for pedestrians and cyclists with additional vulnerabilities such as disabled people to be automatically compensated in road accidents.
- Ban pavement parking.
Work
- Will push for devolution and expansion of the Access to Work scheme
- Increase apprenticeship opportunities for disabled people.
Green Party Manifesto and BBC at a glance
Liberal Democrats
Benefits
- Remove bedroom tax fully from the Scottish benefits.
- Increase 'carers’ benefit' to bring it into line with the rate for jobseeker's allowance.
- Make sure medical assessments take full account of the fluctuating nature of conditions as diverse as mental health or HIV.
Hate crime
- Training of frontline professionals so they can always provide equal services for diverse groups of people
Social care
- Extend the rights of disabled people by empowering them, supporting individual autonomy and overhauling the guardianship system – including introducing staged-guardianship - through an Adults With Incapacity Act review
- Implement and adequately resource the new carers’ strategy, start a pilot of carers’ leave for Scottish Government staff and support the development and provision of special health checks for carers by GPs.
Work
- Support steps to the range of apprenticeships available for disabled people.
- Replace Work Programme and Work Choice with new employability programmes that work in partnership with Skills Development Scotland, colleges, charities and other local agencies.
- Help people who are at risk of losing their job, or entitlement to other benefits, because of a mental health problem by providing financial support and giving them access to NHS
Lib Dem manifesto and BBC at a glance
Scottish Labour Party
Benefits
- Disability benefits will be rights-based not means tested, the application and appeals process will be made more straightforward and transparent. The financial value of such benefits will be protected. Those with long term or terminal conditions will not be asked to requalify, and Labour will explore removing assessment from the hands of the private sector.
- The Scottish Welfare Fund will be protected and ensure that crisis grants and loans are administered fairly. People will have the option of cash or ‘in kind’ payments.
- Abolish the bedroom tax.
- Abolish the 84 day-rule for severely ill or disabled children.
- Those families with children who receive the highest care component of Disability Living Allowance will be able to get the Winter Fuel Payment.
Social care
- Guarantee a social care package within a week.
- Labour will work to end care charges, so that all aspects of social care are free at the point of delivery.
Work
- Utilise new employment agency and Scottish social security system to provide opportunities to prioritise good mental health.
Scottish National Party
Benefits
- Increase carer’s allowance so that it matches jobseeker's allowance;
- Increase carer’s allowance for those looking after more than one disabled child.
- Protect disability benefits and ensure that they remain non-means tested.
- Reform assessment procedures to ensure they work for service users, and stop the revolving door of assessments and related stress and anxiety for those with long-term illnesses, disabilities or conditions.
- Introduce long-term awards for existing long-term conditions that are unlikely to change, and ensure people get the right level of award as time goes on.
- Establish a Disability Benefits Assessment Commission to provide recommendations and guidance on how often assessments should be and what conditions should be given an automatic or lifetime awards, and eligibility criteria.
- Any child in receipt of DLA will be given an automatic award of that DLA to age 18 to allow for continuity for families whilst the transfer of benefits takes place.
- Abolish the bedroom tax
- Abolish the 84 day-rule for severely ill or disabled children
- Protect the Scottish Welfare Fund;
- Extend eligibility for winter fuel payment to families with children in receipt of the highest care component of DLA.
Hate crime
- Ensure that all police officers receive appropriate training to support the investigation of hate crimes and also work towards all new police and fire service recruits receiving equality training.
Social care
- Consult on the introduction of national guidance for care charges and, as part of this, consider the option of a cap that takes account of the costs of disability related expenditure.
- Exempt War Pension for veterans and Guaranteed Income Payments under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme for those injured after April 2005, from consideration in assessments for care charges.
- Consider a national or regional approach to supporting carers and cared for people, including the availability of short breaks for carers and how they can be guaranteed.
- Recognise the unique needs of Young Carers and work with them to further improve services.
SNP manifesto and BBC at a glance
UKIP
Benefits
- Opposes the bedroom tax.
UKIP mainfesto and BBC at a glance
Non party
Glasgow Disability Alliance has produced a manifesto calling on parties to
- work with disabled people to co-produce the new social security system; abolish community care charges;
- protect social care funding and restructure systems around this;
- invest in disabled people led organisations offering peer support and social connections and
- support programmes which enable disabled people to make contributions to volunteer, learn and work.
Welsh assembly
Welsh Conservative Party
Education
- Reform tuition fee support, introducing a ‘Student Rent Rebate’, offering undergraduates help with university living costs.
- Reform Educational Maintenance Allowance, reinvesting the money into childcare and school/college transport.
Hate crime
- Zero tolerance policy to hate crimes and bullying.
Health
- Introduce an Autism Bill to end autism’s lack of statutory identity in Wales.
- Introduce an Additional Learning Needs Bill to improve conditions and resources for children with additional learning needs, enabling them to achieve their potential.
Social care
- Implement a £400 weekly cap on residential care costs.
- Protect £100,000 of assets for those in residential care.
- Establish a Cross Party Commission on the long-term, sustainable provision of care in Wales.
- Promote independent living, and plan for future needs by offering voluntary Stay at Home Assessments for those reaching pension age.
- Invest in better public changing facilities for disabled people.
- Support and promote the use of personal budgets and direct payments in social care.
- Consult on the introduction of a right to respite for carers.
- Expand free bus travel to principal carers.
- Meet the needs of children who are acting as carers, improving identification, supporting the identification of young carers to break down barriers in education, and introducing concessionary fares.
- Establish a Veteran’s Card including free bus travel, priority access to NHS treatment and relevant home adaptation needed as result of in-service injury or illness, plus free access to leisure centres and Cadw sites.
- Introduce a veteran’s needs assessment as the basis for delivering services.
- Ensure no veteran has their War Disablement Pension taken from them when they access social care.
Sport
- Work with broadcasters to increase the screening of disability sport.
Work
- Ensure apprenticeships and government funded training programmes take account of the needs of carers.
- Introduce employee incentive grants to deliver 12 month work opportunities for jobseekers of all ages.
Green party
Benefits
- Bedroom tax support via a rebate for Wales.
- Replace benefits system with a Citizens’ Income (also known as a Universal Basic Income).
Education
- Ensure all pupils have access to mental health support services.
- Ensure the right for every child with a disability to access mainstream education
- Ensure all students can access effective mental health services with ease
- Protect Disabled Student Allowance and ensure those with disabilities are enabled to study fully supported by their institution and relevant education agencies such as Student Finance Wales.
Heating
- Lift people out of fuel poverty through increased energy efficiency measures.
Transport
- Provide all apprentices and jobseekers with discounted public transport cards
Welsh Labour party
Benefits
- Resist attempts to transfer attendance allowance to the Welsh Government and instead fight hard to protect it at the current rate.
Welsh Liberal Democrats
Social care
- Introduce a Carers' Well-being Fund to provide additional breaks for carers.
Work
- All work programmes in Wales to beaccessible for people with disabilities.
- Raise the capital allowances limit for social care.
- Increase the number of rural apprenticeships.
Plaid Cymru
Benefits
- Use discretionary housing payments to compensate in full families affected by the bedroom tax.
- Include disabled people in the development of welfare policy.
Hate crime
- Work with Police and Crime Commissioners to ensure that all hate crime, including antidisability hate crime, is treated as a serious offence by Welsh police forces and investigated appropriately so that victims can feel confident and secure in reporting incidents.
Work
- To establish sheltered employment schemes to support disabled people into work rather than, for example, using the threat of sanctions.
UKIP
Education
- Support disabled students to counter any adverse effects from the proposed changes to Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSA).
Social care
- Abolish the practice of arranging home care visits in fifteen-minute windows.
Non party
- Disability Wales Disabled People's Manifesto
London Mayor
Overview
Manifestos
- Sian Berry (Green)
- Zak Goldsmith (Conservative)
- Sadiq Khan (Labour)
- Caroline Pigeon (Lib Dem)
- Peter Whittle (UKIP)
Related information
- Three candidates asked about disability
- Mayoral candidates debate transport, housing and apprenticeships
- Operation Disabled Vote - Inclusion London resources