The three main political parties in the UK have published their election manifestos this week ahead of the general election on July 4th. This is a significant moment in the campaign as these manifestos contain the set of policies that the party stands for and would wish to implement if they were elected to govern.
This article looks at the different aspects that will directly affect people with a learning disability and/or autism.
Social care will be a political hot potato in this year’s election campaign as it is well documented that it is under intense pressure with care providers close to financial collapse, a workforce crisis, and far too many people’s care needs going unmet.
First up is the Conservatives who have promised a re-commitment to social care reform with the October 2025 roll out of a cap on the lifetime care costs a person has to pay. They also say they will give local authorities a multi-year funding settlement to support social care and will take forward the reforms in the ‘People at the Heart of Care’ White Paper.
They also promise to attract and retain a high-quality care workforce, make reforms to shape the market for older people’s housing (but with no mention of accessible or supportive housing) and support unpaid carers.
Labour also committed to undertake a programme of reform to create a National Care Service, underpinned by national standards, delivering consistency of care across the country. As part of a plan (to make a plan) they say they will:
The Liberal Democrats also acknowledged the social care work force crisis with a pledge to create a workforce plan, establish a Royal College of Care Workers to improve recognition and career progression, and introduce a higher Carer’s Minimum Wage with a starting increase of £2 an hour.
They also want to establish a cross-party commission to forge a long-term agreement on sustainable funding for social care. This is to create a consensus on funding to ensure that no one has to sell their home to pay for their personal care.
Another promise is to introduce free personal care in England and trial personal health and social care budgets so that individuals are in control of what care they receive.
Another notable addition is enabling individuals to transfer their care package so they don’t feel stuck in their current locality due to their care needs.
The Conservatives have pledged to reform disability benefits so they are better targeted and reflect people’s genuine needs, while delivering a step change in mental health provision. They say they want to:
The Liberal Democrats went further with promises to repair the broken benefits safety net by reducing the wait for the first payment of Universal Credit from five weeks to five days, scrapping the bedroom tax, and replacing the sanctions regime with an incentive-based scheme to help people into work.
They also want to raise the amount carers can earn and introduce an earnings taper to end the unfair cliff-edge. This is in addition to reducing the number of hours’ care per week required and extending it to carers in full-time education.
Importantly, they have promised to reform PIP assessments to make the process more transparent and stop unnecessary reassessments and end the use of informal assessments. Work Capability Assessments will be brought in-house with a pledge that disabled people and organisations representing them have a stronger voice in the design of benefits policies and processes.
Mental health legislation is a key topic for people with a learning disability and autistic people, given the numbers still languishing in secure units and detained under the current Mental Health Act.
Labour acknowledged that it is woefully out of date and promised to modernise legislation to give patients greater choice, autonomy, enhanced rights and support, and ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect throughout treatment.
They also said that the treatment of people with autism and learning difficulties is a disgrace.
The Liberal Democrats also promised to end inpatient placements for those with learning disabilities and autism.
The Conservatives plan to transform education for children with special educational needs (SEN) by delivering 60,000 more school places and a further 15 new free schools for children with SEN.
Labour also specifically mentioned children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and said that they will take a community-wide approach, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs.
They also promised to make sure admissions decisions account for the needs of communities and require all schools to co-operate with their local authority on school admissions, SEND inclusion, and place planning.
In their education pledge, the Liberal Democrats said they will establish a new National Body for SEND to fund support for children with very high needs and give local authorities extra funding to reduce the amount that schools pay towards the cost of a child’s Education, Health and Care Plan.
The Liberal Democrats recognised the nation’s unpaid carers in their manifesto and said that they ‘do a remarkable and important job’ that is too often forgotten and ignored.
The party, if elected, wants to give unpaid carers a fair deal by increasing Carer’s Allowance, expanding eligibility for it, as well as stopping carers being pursued for old overpayments.
It also wants to introduce a statutory guarantee of regular respite breaks for unpaid carers and introduce paid carer’s leave. Caring will become a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, requiring employers to make reasonable adjustments to enable employees with caring responsibilities to provide that care.
Young carers are also recognised with a pledge to introduce a Young Carers Pupil Premium as part of an ‘Education Guarantee’.
The Conservatives said it is their ambition to make this country the most accessible place in the world for people with disabilities to live, work and thrive. It made direct reference to improving accessibility at 100 train stations, starting with the 50 stations announced in May.
They said they will improve support for people who have guide or assistance dogs and explore bidding to host and deliver the 2031 Special Olympics World Summer Games.
The Liberal Democrats also had a big emphasis on independence with promises to roll out digital platforms for care users to develop networks, relationships and opportunities, connecting with care workers, friends and family, voluntary groups and more.
They also want to improve communication standards so carers can support care users to co-produce and monitor care plans as well as establishing an Independent Living Taskforce to help people live independently in their own homes.
Labour said it was committed to championing the rights of disabled people and to the principle of working with them, so that their views and voices will be at the heart of all they do. This includes introducing the full right to equal pay for disabled people, supporting disabled people to work by improving employment support and access to reasonable adjustments. They also said that they will tackle the Access to Work backlog and make sure people can try out a job without fear of an immediate benefit reassessment if it does not work out.
The Liberal Democrats also said that the disability employment gap will also be tackled by implementing a targeted strategy to support disabled people into work, with specialist disability employment support.
In addition, they say they want to make it easier for disabled people to access public life, including the world of work, by adopting new accessibility standards for public spaces, improving the legislative framework for blue badges, and incorporating the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into UK law.
The Conservative Party pledged to respect the will of Parliament on assisted dying and added that debates on assisted dying should never distract from the importance of delivering high-quality palliative care services and they will continue to support children’s and adults’ hospices.
The Liberal Democrats said that they will give Parliament time to fully debate and vote on legislation on assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent adults with strict safeguards, subject to a free vote.
*Some aspects of these pledges will only apply to England and not the devolved nations. Next week we will examine the manifestos of the other political parties.
An easy read version of the Liberal Democrat’s manifesto is available. A Labour version will be available soon according to their website.
