Accessibility of the rail network for those with disabilities and other mobility issues prioritised in the 2025 spending review by the government instead of more cuts to benefits like Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
The spring statement focused cuts to welfare benefits following the secretary of state for Work and Pensions announcement on the issue just weeks before.
As someone who lives with disabilities and uses a wheelchair to navigate daily life I set out how losing personal independence payment (PIP) would affect my life in the long term following the statement.
Having claimed PIP and before that DLA (Disability Living Allowance) for as long as I can physically remember, losing those funds would mean I would not be able to live my life in the same way that I currently do.
I have previously mentioned that some of those funds go to the maintenance of my wheelchair which is part funded by myself along with the National Health Service (NHS).
They (the government) have moved away from cutting the benefits that people like me rely on and focused that funding on improving the accessibility of the railways for those living with as I have already mentioned ” mobility issues and other disabilities”.
Stations across the nation is not fit for purpose when it comes to supporting our community to live as independently as we possibly can, it is time that this changes so that I for one don’t have to find alternative ways to get around whilst out and about.
Today I will along with others be able to travel by rail without fear of getting into difficulty during journeys that I take on a regular basis.
My loyal readers and social media followers will know that for the last 18 months or so I have been working with the team at WMT (West Midlands Trains) to improve the accessibility of the rail network that they manage for our community.
A number of stations across the network that either see high volumes of passenger assistance requests passing through or are classed as being unstaffed now have accessible waiting spaces and other types of signage on the platforms.
This has led to passengers experiencing a seamless journey when using assisted travel on network.
I was surprised that funding was announced by the treasury for this afternoon, and my message to Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer and there government is clear but simple one and this is, Thank you for listening to the concerns of many Midlanders and providing funding for improvements to the network across our beautiful region.
“Delighted” is the only way that I can describe this afternoons announcement as I know how much it is going to benefit our community for many years to come.
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Cam
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