{"id":7691,"date":"2025-06-06T10:42:50","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T08:42:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disabilityconnect.co.za\/?p=7691"},"modified":"2025-06-06T10:42:50","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T08:42:50","slug":"concerns-raised-over-uk-arts-job-scheme-potentially-excluding-disabled-talent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/06\/concerns-raised-over-uk-arts-job-scheme-potentially-excluding-disabled-talent\/","title":{"rendered":"Concerns raised over UK arts job scheme potentially excluding disabled talent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Disability advocates have warned that the UK Labour Party\u2019s proposed arts job scheme could <strong>unintentionally exclude disabled creatives<\/strong> due to limitations around <strong>Access to Work support<\/strong> and a lack of built-in inclusion safeguards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2025\/jun\/04\/labour-plans-risk-excluding-disabled-people-uk-arts-access-to-work\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">The Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The policy, which forms part of Labour\u2019s election pledge to revive Britain\u2019s cultural sector, proposes the creation of thousands of jobs across music, theatre, museums, and media. While welcomed by many in the industry, disability groups have voiced concern that without robust planning, <strong>systemic barriers could persist\u2014or worsen\u2014for disabled artists and professionals<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the core issues is the scheme\u2019s apparent reliance on short-term, insecure contracts, which often fall outside the scope of existing <strong>Access to Work funding<\/strong>, a vital resource that enables many disabled people to participate fully in employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are not against the policy itself,\u201d said one disability arts advocate. \u201cBut we need to see how disabled workers will be <strong>explicitly included<\/strong>, not sidelined.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Campaigners are urging Labour to consult directly with disabled communities and embed <strong>inclusive employment standards<\/strong>\u2014including physical accessibility, assistive technology, flexible working, and guaranteed support services\u2014as core requirements for participating organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With disabled people already significantly underrepresented in the arts sector, critics argue that <strong>any recovery plan must address inequality head-on<\/strong>, rather than assume trickle-down benefits. As the UK moves toward its general election, many are watching closely to see whether promises of creative sector revitalisation will include those most often excluded from it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Disability advocates have warned that the UK Labour Party\u2019s proposed arts job scheme could unintentionally exclude disabled creatives due to limitations around Access to Work support and a lack of built-in inclusion safeguards. By The Guardian The policy, which forms part of Labour\u2019s election pledge to revive Britain\u2019s cultural sector, proposes the creation of thousands [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7692,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58,152],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","category-in-the-workplace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}