Consultation Response: OFGEM OFGEM are responsible for the energy price cap and setting the rules on energy tariffs. They recently published a consultation to get people’s views on whether they make it a rule that energy companies should have to offer tariffs which have a lower standing charge. The standing charge is the amount of money you pay every day to get electricity and gas into your home. The other part of your bill is called the unit price which is money you pay for each kilowatt hour of electricity or gas you use. We know from our members that
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Quarterly Research Review: Summer 2025 At Disability Equality Scotland, we regularly consult our members and the wider disability community to make sure their voices are heard on the issues that matter most. Our Summer 2025 Research Review brings together insights from our recent consultations. This includes: Big Cost of Living Survey Open Bus Data Consultation Our Response to the UK Government’s Pathways to Work Green Paper DES Patron and Ambassador Program Read the full Summer 2025 Research Review (Word) Read the full Summer 2025 Research Review (PDF)
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Consultation response: Pathways to Work Green Paper To help shape our response to the Health and Disability Green Paper, we invited our members to share their views through a survey. We are grateful to everyone who took the time to contribute their experiences and insights. We are especially concerned about the impact these changes could have on young disabled people and on those who become disabled later in life. The revised proposals risk deepening inequality within the social security system and may lead to discrimination against people with fluctuating or degenerative conditions. We believe these are policy choices that could
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Improving Bus Travel Information: What Our Members Told Us Transport Scotland recently asked for views on what information passengers need when travelling by bus — and what details should be required by law. At Disability Equality Scotland, we know that accessible public transport is a top priority for our members. That’s why we ran a survey to gather your views and submitted a response earlier this month. Our survey focused on: Which bus providers the rules should apply to What basic journey information should be included (e.g. ticket prices, bus stops) What accessibility information disabled passengers need What real-time updates
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Quarterly Research Review: Spring 2025 At Disability Equality Scotland, we regularly consult our members and the wider disability community to make sure their voices are heard on the issues that matter most. Our Spring 2025 Research Review brings together insights from our recent consultations. This includes: Common Chargers Big Cost of Living Survey Disability Hate Crime Disabled People’s Taxi Use Thistle Assistance Read the full Spring 2025 Research Review (Word)
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Fact Sheet: Disability Hate Crime In summer 2024 we carried out a member’s question on hate crime and its impact on disabled people, given the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act had taken effect earlier within the year. As a year has now passed, we wanted to learn if anything had changed, in particular people’s understanding of what hate crime is and how it affects disabled people. DES also has a role in promoting the Hate Crime Charter on public transport and we wanted to find out whether there has been a change in awareness. Fact Sheet: Disability Hate
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Fact Sheet: Thistle Assistance We were asked by our colleagues at Transport Scotland to conduct a survey on disabled peoples knowledge of and experiences when using Thistle Assistance. Our survey was developed in conjunction with SESTrans who are the administrators of the Thistle Assistance scheme. You can read the results here: Fact Sheet: Thistle Assistance (Word document)
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Fact Sheet: Winter Fuel Payments What is the issue we asked members about? In July 2024 the new Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the United Kingdom (UK) Government were going to make changes to the Winter Fuel Payment. The UK Government said that from winter 2024 only people who received certain benefits – such as pension credit – would qualify for the payment. Also, Social Security Scotland will be responsible for Winter Fuel Payments in Scotland from this Winter. The Scottish Government (SG) are introducing a replacement benefit, called Pension Age Winter Heating Payment. They have said that they
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Fact Sheet: Energy Costs and Support for Disabled People What is the issue we asked members about? Disability Equality Scotland (DES) were asked by Scottish Government to assist them do research concerning energy costs and how these impact on disabled consumers, in advance of a meeting between the Government and Energy Suppliers. As well as the impact of prices, the government wanted to find out: what support people need; their experiences using a Smart Meter and; what disabled people thought about a social tariff being introduced. A social tariff is a discounted energy tariff that is targeted towards those facing
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