A cross-party group of MPs and peers has called on the UK government to introduce national guidance that would stop local NHS integrated-care boards and councils blocking disabled people from paying the travel costs of their personal-assistant care teams when they go abroad. The intervention follows a Guardian investigation published on 18 September that highlighted ‘brazenly discriminatory’ variations between neighbouring care boards. One case involves ‘Joel’, a marketing executive with spinal muscular atrophy, who has been unable to leave the country for eight years because Cheshire & Merseyside ICB refuses to let him use his personal-health-budget to cover his assistants’ flights—even though he self-funds his own travel. Forty miles away, Greater Manchester ICB takes a different view and allocates a £2,370 annual allowance for a similar patient. Debbie Abrahams MP, chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, warned that such restrictions may breach the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, while disability-rights peer Baroness Jane Campbell likened the rules to “tagging a prisoner out on parole.” Campaigners argue that inconsistent policies not only hamper tourism but also jeopardise international work assignments and study opportunities for disabled professionals and students. Although the Department for Health and Social Care insists decisions are made case-by-case, pressure is mounting for a national framework that guarantees parity of access and obliges funders to recognise legitimate business and leisure travel. Global-mobility teams employing disabled assignees should monitor policy developments closely and ensure relocation packages explicitly budget for PA travel costs until the rules are clarified. If adopted, a ‘right-to-care-abroad’ standard could also influence how insurers, airlines and border officials cater for high-needs travellers, potentially opening a new market in accessible corporate travel services.
Source: The Guardian
