Disabled people an ‘afterthought’ in pandemic response, Covid inquiry told

Disabled people were an “afterthought” in the UK’s pandemic response, according to equalities experts.

The UK’s Covid-19 inquiry today heard knowledge of the risks posed to some of the country’s most vulnerable groups was “very well known or should be well known” by top decision-makers. But despite this, ministers were accused of overlooking concerns, prompting campaigners to call for an overhaul at the heart of Westminster.

“Disabled people were an afterthought,” Thomas Shakespeare, a disability researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the latest evidence session.

“In many of the provisions, they were not centrally thought about, and therefore they were excluded from measures that were taken to protect the general population.”

Under questioning from the inquiry’s lead counsel, Hugo Keith, Shakespeare agreed key government decisions had “disproportionately affected” disabled people during the coronavirus pandemic.

The inquiry is in the fifth day of its second module, focusing on the UK’s initial response to Covid-19.

It is estimated more than a fifth of Britons are affected by some form of disability, but according to Shakespeare, there was “not enough knowledge” of issues facing disabled people at the outbreak of the pandemic.

Nicholas Watson, chair of disability studies at the University of Glasgow, who gave evidence alongside Shakespeare, said a “significant body of evidence” should have already demonstrated the difficulties at-risk groups face accessing health services. He also referred to extra financial burdens shouldered by disabled people, adding: “Not only are disabled people more likely to live in poverty, but actually, it is more expensive to live with a disability.”

Laia Bécares, of King’s College London’s Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, said LGBTIQ+ people faced similar issues during the pandemic. Concerns have also been raised over data held on ethnic disparities.

Bécares told the hearing: “There is a persistent underinvestment in data infrastructure and research for the LGBTQ+ population. Data are crucial because unless we document iniquities, we cannot intervene on them and we cannot monitor how we are progressing.”

A report by Bécares, published on the Covid inquiry site after the hearing, went further, stating the government should have provided more safe housing for LGBTIQ+ people in unsafe or insecure living conditions, such as homophobic or transphobic environments, and for LGBTIQ+ people experiencing domestic abuse.

Restrictions should also have included access to safe spaces – both in the community and online – for LGBTIQ+ people, her report argued.

The Office for National Statistics has suggested people with disabilities accounted for 59% of deaths from Covid-19, out of 230,115 people understood to have died with Covid-19 cited on their death certificate, as of September 1.

Last week, the inquiry heard Boris Johnson had delayed measures to protect disabled people during the pandemic.

Kamran Mallick, chief executive of Disability Rights UK, told the inquiry he wanted to see the UK’s disabilities minister taken out of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and made part of the cabinet.

He said: “The DWP is fundamentally about getting people off benefits, reducing the benefit bill and getting people into work.

“That's the main focus that department has had for many years and that's the focus of the minister.

"When we meet with ministers and raise issues to do with housing, or transport or health, the response will often be: ‘That's not within my remit’.”

The inquiry continues.

Update, 11 October 2023: This article was amended to include details of Laia Bécares' report, titled 'Pre-existing inequalities experienced by LGBTQ+ groups', published on the Covid inquiry site on 9 October