Please note: The first round of funding is now closed. We will be open for applications in summer 2025.
We are committed to continuing our support for disabled people through the six grant programmes, using £50 million of the donation we received in 2023. This new funding will be available for charities and organisations, to apply for in summer 2025.
A growing number of large and small charities are now providing travel training schemes.
Through our new Travel Confidence Grant Programme we will help them, and travel providers, to make an immediate impact for disabled people.
Examples of grant funding from this programme have included:
- Grants to improve awareness of responsibilities and influence policy and practice in the transport sector
- Funding to embed a user-led approach to inclusive design and delivery of transport services
- Grants to scale, promote awareness of, and increase access to, travel training programmes that increase skills, knowledge, confidence, choice and control when travelling
- Grants to support the development of accessible tools and technology solutions that support journey planning and in-journey navigation
Why are we doing this?
In a transport system that is not yet fully inclusive, disabled people have told us that they are not fully empowered or supported to travel independently.
4.4m disabled people say that services ‘not going where I need to go’ is a challenge.
The design and delivery of transport services are not led by the needs and experiences of disabled passengers, and a lack of user engagement by transport providers and planners often results in inaccessible design and delivery of infrastructure, services, and vehicles.
Through our research, disabled people have told us that negative in-journey experiences, such as poor staff attitudes or public behaviour, disempower them and put them off making journeys by public transport.
A Scope report found that 1 in 5 of those who had requested assistance 24 hours in advance found it did not turn up. Scope’s Travel Fair Report found that 54% of respondents felt anxious ‘always’ or ‘often’ when using public transport.
Travel training programmes provide a range of support from general travel awareness, to planning and completing an end-to-end journey.
Travel training equips individuals with coping mechanisms and skills to build resilience against challenges, and prepare for changes that can possibly happen during day-to-day travel.
Statutory help, in relation to transport, drops significantly for many disabled people when they reach a certain age or stage in life. This is especially true for those who have the ability or skillsets to benefit most from these travel training schemes.
