Select committee: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 2
Seventh Report - Disabled people in the housing sector
Published 24 May 2024
Paragraph 15
Addressed to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee Disabled people in the housing sector All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We have found little evidence that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is fully recognising the housing needs of disabled people, let alone treating disabled people’s needs as a priority in housing policy. In particular, it is deeply concerning that the Government’s new Disability Action Plan fails to directly address housing at all, despite clear evidence of the knock-on effect of housing on all aspects of disabled people’s lives. Moreover, the only substantive reassurance that the Minister for Housing and Homelessness was able to provide us with was that she had “heard from lots of people on the ground” in her capacity as the Ministerial Disability Champion. We recommend that the Government should take action based on the concerns that the Minister has heard.
From: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, Seventh Report - Disabled people in the housing sector (HC 63), paragraph 15, 24 May 2024
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 6 March 2025 (deadline 24 July 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government "notes the conclusion" of the inquiry, says disabled people "should not face barriers" to suitable housing, and responds to the recommendations with some commitments, some declined actions and several matters left for later announcement.
- On a mandatory M4(2) accessibility standard, the government "intends to set out its policies on the accessibility of new homes in the near future" and will give details of the necessary technical consultation then.
- On registers of accessible housing, the government "does not believe that mandating accessible housing registers is an appropriate action", but will "explore if further guidance, or clarification of existing guidance, is needed".
- On data on M4(2) and M4(3) homes, the government does not intend to require the new collection, saying it wants to reduce burdensome reporting requirements on local authorities.
- On the Disabled Facilities Grant, it is reviewing the £30,000 upper limit, expects the review "to conclude later in 2025", and "proposes to consult on a new formula during 2025" for allocating funding.