Disabled people were celebrated in 2024 – so why are so many fearing 2025?

In some ways 2024 has been a starring moment for disabled people – a year that has seen barriers smashed, expectations defied and made the public sit up and take notice. 

At the Paralympics, Team GB celebrated their most successful day of the Games this century. One of the squad’s final tally of 49 golds was won by archer Jodie Grinham, the first athlete to win Paralympic medals while known to be pregnant. 

Then there’s Chris McCausland, the comedian who defied the doubters to excel on TV’s Strictly Come Dancing and win the final. There’s never been a blind contestant before.

• Chris McCausland: ‘I’d tell my younger self he’s going to sit on the same toilets as his heroes’
• The UK must change for disabled people in 2025 – so we can live the lives we deserve

At Sense, the national disability charity, we’ve cheered on these disabled stars who have broken barriers when they were included.

But as 2024 draws to a close, we would love the public and government to take just as much notice of the other 16 million disabled people in the UK – including the 1.6 million with complex disabilities – and give them every chance to live life to the full too.

Disabled people continue to face unfair and deep-rooted barriers. All too often, they’re blocked from employment, forced into poverty, or left without support because of the growing crisis in social care.

And little has changed on these fronts. Just a few shocking statistics from Sense’s annual research, where we spoke to 1,279 people with complex disabilities, show the scale of the ongoing problem. 

A third (33%) told us they had run out of food in the past year. More than half (52%) of those in receipt of benefits were struggling to afford an essential bill.

A quarter (25%) didn’t receive any support to look for and apply for jobs. And heartbreakingly, over half (55%) said they felt lonely, compared to a quarter (26%) of the general public.

Disabled people tell us the spiralling cost of living over the past few years has left them in crisis, with many forced to make impossible choices between eating, switching on their heating or paying for medical equipment.

The new government, elected in July 2024, promised us in their manifesto that they are “committed to championing the rights of disabled people”. 

In 2025, they must keep that pledge and have some stark choices to make, which could make a vital difference to disabled people’s lives. Get it right and the coming year could be transformative – but if they get it wrong, the consequences are frightening.

A huge worry, hanging over many disabled people’s heads, is the chancellor’s autumn budget pledge to cut £3bn from the benefits bill over the next five years.

Where the axe will fall has not yet been specified and the plan will only become clear when the government publishes a consultation paper in spring 2025.

A nightmare scenario is that they will continue with the previous government’s plan to reform the work capability assessment (WCA), which it’s estimated would leave more than 424,000 disabled people worse off by more than £400 a month within three years.

If we could persuade the government to make just one new year’s resolution, it would be to rule out this WCA change immediately and rethink the decision to cut benefits at all. 

Benefits are not a lifestyle choice but a lifeline for many disabled people, who need more financial support, not less. And just as importantly, we need the government to heed disabled people’s opinions and work with them to truly meet their needs.

A similar listening approach is needed when it comes to employment. The government has pledged £250m to help more people into work, including disabled people, and – done well – this could be life changing for those who have been locked out of jobs by unfair recruiting practices and a lack of support in Jobcentres and from employers.

But again there is widespread fear among disabled people that their benefits will be cut if they turn down unsuitable job offers or training courses.

So we are calling for this approach to be swiftly ruled out too. Instead, we need an explicit acknowledgement that not all disabled people can work and that no-one will be pressured into taking a job at the expense of their health.

And then, rebuild trust and work with disabled people to deliver change. Investing £5m to roll out screen readers and braille displays in Jobcentres across the country and make job-hunting more accessible would be a good and affordable first step.

Beyond that, there’s so much more to be done. Social care is chronically underfunded and in crisis. Disabled people are being left without vital care because cash-strapped local authorities are slashing support and providers are struggling to find care workers.

The government has told us they want to fix social care but in 2025 we need to see concrete plans of how and when this will happen. Just as importantly, we need to see proper funding commitments because without investment nothing can change.

If all of these measures are implemented in 2025, the coming year could be a true new beginning. One that would give all disabled people cause to celebrate.

Happy new year? We can only hope so.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy of the magazine or get the app from the App Store or Google Play.