Press Release: Disabled People’s Organisations criticise “institutionalised ignorance” from an “ableist state” in the pandemic and say nothing has changed

PRESS RELEASE 

1 July 2025  

Disabled People’s Organisations criticise “institutionalised ignorance” from an “ableist state” in the pandemic and say nothing has changed 

Disability Rights UK, Disability Action Northern Ireland, Disability Wales and Inclusion Scotland comprise the Disabled People’s Organisations (DPO) who have been granted core participant status in Module 6 of the Covid-19 Public Inquiry which is examining the impact of the pandemic on the adult social care sector. Their opening statement was delivered at the Inquiry yesterday by Danny Friedman KC.  

In a reflection of the current Labour Government’s proposal to cut Personal Independent Payments and Universal Credit health-related support to Disabled people in full knowledge of the disastrous consequences, the DPO’s barrister criticised the previous government’s “institutionalised ignorance” of key issues affecting Disabled people and that the evidence “revealed a system where the recipients of care, the way they live and the way that many of them died, was ignored by design”.  

Mr Friedman KC noted that the previous Government knew at the time of the human toll that reduced care services took but chose to “misrepresent the human cost” of the reduction in services, something DPO have consistently criticised the current Government of also doing in arguing for its proposed swingeing benefits cuts upon which MPs will vote today. 

Friedman KC also said that when the “ableist state” considered social care support, it far too often failed to consider Disabled people who live in their own homes or in supported care settings.  

Friedman KC noted that “Disabled People’s Organisations agree with the various descriptions of the Care Sector being complex, fragmented and fragile. However, what that language bears the risk of obscuring is that the system has been constructed that way”. Also, that the long-term flaws of the system were starkly revealed in the pandemic as “care settings became life threatening” and “care services to sustain everyday basic quality of life were withdrawn”.  

The Disabled People’s Organisations called on all four UK nations’ governments to learn from the pandemic and examine how the State can take command of and better integrate the different parts of the care system. Friedman KC stated that any failure to do so “would amount to eyes-wide-open acceptance that Covid-19’s extreme outcomes will be repeated.”  

Georgia Bondy – Covid Inquiry Manager working with Disability Rights UK said: 

“The previous government needs to take responsibility for the fact that its lack of planning, consultation and care is part of the reason so many Disabled people receiving care died and suffered during the pandemic. Today, MPs will vote on the current government’s proposed legislation to cut the ability of thousands of Disabled people to receive care. In light of our learnings from the pandemic, we can’t see this as anything but a complete disregard for the continued survival of disabled people.” 

Rhian Davies, Chief Executive of Disability Wales said: “Curtailing Disabled people’s rights under the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act (2014) was one of the earliest decisions taken by Welsh Government at the outset of the pandemic and paved the way for Wales experiencing the highest death rate from Covid-19 amongst Disabled people in the UK. Since then, social care services have never fully recovered with thousands of people in Wales reliant on benefits such as PIP to support their right to Independent Living. In this context, the UK Government’s proposed cuts to this lifeline benefit will lead to serious and far-reaching consequences for current and future recipients. Once again, the rights and very survival of Disabled people are totally disregarded by those in power.” 

Nuala Toman Head of Accessibility at Disability Action Northern Ireland said: “The pandemic exposed a brutal truth: Disabled people were not only forgotten, they were disregarded through planning and service design failures. The UK and Northern Ireland’s fragmented and underfunded care system and combined with institutional ableism led to preventable deaths and trauma. Unless our governments act now, we are knowingly walking into the next crisis with the same failures.” 

Heather Fisken, CEO at Inclusion Scotland, said: “If there was ever any emergency planning around these vital services and supports, disabled people were unaware and not involved. As a consequence, tens of thousands of disabled people lost vital support, often overnight, and were put at increased risk of contracting COVID. Today, some still don’t have the support they had prior to the pandemic. Governments need to take this learning forward and work with our organisations to ensure social care support is invested in and systems around it are strengthened and people led so that this never happens again”.  

Notes to editors 

The Disabled People’s Organisations are represented in Module 6 by a team at Bhatt Murphy led by Shamik Dutta and Caleb Simpson with counsel Danny Friedman KC of Matrix Chambers, Kate Beattie and Alice Irving of Doughty Street Chambers.  

Module 6 of the Covid-19 Inquiry will examine the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the publicly and privately funded adult social care sector across the UK. The public hearings are taking place in London over the following 5 weeks between 30 June to 31 July 2025.  

A video of the opening speech can be viewed at the start of the video here. 

The press release document can be accessed, here – 25.07.01 Press Release M6 Opening FINAL.