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Angela and Pete are wheeling through their local garden centre looking at all the plants and chatting.

About Us

At the Motability Foundation we fund, support, research and innovate to help all disabled people make the journeys they choose. There are a few key ways that we make this happen.

  1. We oversee the Motability Scheme and provide grants to help people use it, providing access to transport to hundreds of thousands of people a year.
  2. We award grants to other charities and organisations who provide different types of transport, or work towards making transport accessible.
  3. We also carry out ongoing research, in partnership with disabled people and key stakeholders in the industry, to inspire innovations that continue to champion accessible transport for all.
A video featuring stories from our beneficiaries

Helping people to use the Motability Scheme

The Motability Scheme is the main way we provide access to transport for disabled people. The Scheme offers an affordable way for disabled people to lease a new car, wheelchair-accessible vehicle, scooter or powered wheelchair.

Anyone who receives qualifying mobility allowances from the government can apply for a Scheme vehicle.

We then provide grants to cover the costs of leasing the right car or Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle.

We support people to find the right adaptations so that they can use their car more easily, and provide grants to cover the costs.

All of our Motability Scheme grant applications are means-tested to make sure that we give funding to those most in need of support.

Our role in the Motability Scheme

We continue to make sure that the Motability Scheme is the best it can be. It’s run by a separate company, Motability Operations.

We oversee them to deliver the Scheme and make sure that the Scheme gives disabled people the best choice, value for money and customer service possible – and to make sure it is sustainable for generations to come.

760,000 people use the Motability Scheme. In 2023/24, 15,142 grants were provided to Motability Scheme customers from the Motability Foundation to help fund advance payments or adaptations to their vehicle.

Working with other charities and organisations - research, innovation and grant-making

Working with others is a huge part of our commitment to improving accessible travel, today and in the future.

We help fund other charities and organisations who give disabled people everyday transport options, from community buses to wheelchairs.

We provide research grants to better understand the ways transport accessibility needs to change – funding long-term projects like the National Centre for Accessible Transport.

We also use our own research, and work with disability experts, partners and policy makers, to keep exploring and developing new ways to make all transport accessible. 

We never stop working alongside disabled people to make sure that their knowledge and experience shapes all of our work.

How it works

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Find out more

Grants to individuals and organisations

We have grants available to individuals as well as organisations and charities to help disabled people make more journeys.

Charitable Grants

Innovation and research

Our innovation team has commissioned research to better understand the barriers faced by disabled people in accessing transport.

Impact and Innovation

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

If you have any questions about our grant programmes you can learn more by visiting and reading our FAQs.

FAQs