‘In the past (2016) access to work used to be lightning quick and everything that I wanted was put into place in a matter of weeks. They were quick then but what’s gone wrong? Why is now taking months to get ATW to work. A lot of people that have disabilities rely on this and the delay is just another obstacle, so people find it difficult to actually warrant coming to work’.

‘There was talk about a passport after access to work that had a list of needs, so that when you went to an interview there was a guarantee that these things would be provided so that you weren’t getting a job and then having to work on getting the needs you required’.

Regarding concerns about the DWP having all this data about people’s conditions etc ‘there is a fear and a lack of trust of the government knowing these things, but if we want these things that we are asking for, we need to be willing to share our details’.

‘I am seeing numerous people who are trying to get benefits and are having to go to tribunals which then award them what they need. This really should be done in the first instance without putting disabled people through the hassle of tribunals and filling out forms’.

‘Labour needs to get the messaging right around funding for disabled people so we feel that a Labour government will be providing disabled people with the support and funding that we need and haven’t been receiving from previous governments. Labour in the past has spent their terms in governments repairing damage and firefighting and then struggling to make longer term changes while not getting the recognition for what it is doing’.

‘Employers need to stop advertising jobs as working from home when in fact they are actually ‘based’ at home which would include travelling to other places a few times a week or going on site once a week etc. The messaging is that more and more people can and are working from home which should be great for disabled people, however often working from home isn’t genuinely working from home’.

After Grenfell, there was an idea for a personal evacuation plan for disabled people. These need to be reviewed to ensure that these plans are in place. Disabled people need to be consulted on these plans to ensure that they are in place and effective for disabled people in these circumstances; in terms of accessibility, timing, the way that the building is built.

After I became disabled, in order to go to work now I would need completely re-training because of the needs I have now and how they may not fit with my past employment. If I wanted to re-enter employment it would cost me. As an unemployed, disabled, single man, there is no chance that I could afford to go to university or pay for a college course. It has destroyed my opportunities. Under the Blair government, I was able to go to college but the work wasn’t there is what I was trained to do, so now I need re-training and there seems to be no plausible way to do that. What I would need is to go back to college would be all it would take. I would just like an opportunity and there isn’t one. I haven’t seen anyone in the DWP for years due to the level of benefits I am on and some other mental health issues I have experienced. I just need to get into the right environment where there are opportunities. Maybe offering people grants for re-training.

There is a severe lack of careers advice in the Midlands in non-existent, even for the kids when they leave school. There may be opportunities for accessing work, but we wouldn’t know where to find them. We need lifelong career advice and access to work coaches when they are requested by disabled people.

There are job centres, but often they are unfriendly and inaccessible to disabled people, for example far away and then there are transport issues or the centres are in other administrative areas.

There were suggestions of having specialist support for people on ESA/PIP etc, but when we reviewed it, it was something like 1 disability work coach for every 25,000 Hectares. And these were also predominantly in towns and cities. There also need to be enough job coaches or career support services that have experience in providing disabled people with support so that people can actually access that support easily. But also the quality of them needs to be reviewed, what are they offering?

A travel card should be available if you are on benefits undertaking training. These things used to be available, but they aren’t any more. So, what can work coaches who are thin on the ground anyway, offer disabled people. What I have seen from work coaches and job centres is what they offer people is minimal. The expectations that they are setting for disabled people are low.

New deal for disabled people under Blair worked out as £17,800 for everyone in employment. You need to put the money in to get results out but there isn’t that desire from the government and services. Society needs to have higher expectations for what disabled people can do if they are given the support they need, instead people are being robbed of that and fighting to retain the bare minimum. We need to invest in disabled people because they can give back so much to society when they are provided with the support they need to do so.

Assessments need to be completely reviewed. Often they are done and then the services and support that are offered to disabled people is below what they actually need. Assessors need to be assessed. There seems to be no accountability for them and we need to remove KPIs for assessors so that they are actually assessing the needs of disabled people rather than trying to meet quotas and give less that what is needed.

Assessments shouldn’t be carried out again for disabled people when they are not required and changes aren’t needed because often this can lead to a change in the support offered that may take away what is needed.