Dr Hannah Barham-Brown, Governor
I’ve been a Governor of Motability Foundation for nearly four years now, and for me, it’s personal.
I grew up with a wheelchair-using Mum, and all our cars were Motability Scheme vehicles. These enabled my parents to get us kids to school, clubs and medical appointments, but they also enabled my Mum to complete teacher training, and work as a teacher for many years.
I can honestly say the Motability Scheme changed my life, and I wasn’t even the intended beneficiary. The Scheme is run as a not-for-profit model; every penny made is pumped back into the disabled community by the Foundation.
Each year, we subsidise £150 million in Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles across the UK, we’re the 2nd biggest funder of community transport in the UK, and we support many disability charities across the sector to enable disabled people to make the journeys they choose.
The Government’s proposal to cut the funding of the Scheme is beyond ludicrous, particularly when they claim to want to get disabled people into employment.
Our scheme customers are able to work an extra 14 hours per week on average, and 21% report substantial improvements to their employment opportunities thanks to the Scheme.
As a GP in a socio-economically deprived, rural area, I know how hard it can be to access healthcare as a disabled person; but 86% of our customers report a substantial improvement in their ability to access healthcare services - which saves the NHS a fortune in not having to provide accessible patient transport, and missed appointments due to not being able to get to them.
These cuts will have huge long term impacts to the UK economy and disabled people, and will disadvantage those who need us the most.
We can only hope that the Treasury sees sense before Budget Day.