Scope - about cerebral palsy. For disabled people achieving equality.

Scope and six leading disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) have secured a £4.2million funding grant to develop a unique new alliance aimed at averting the crisis facing DPOs and increasing their effectiveness for the future.

National disability organisation Scope will join forces with six DPOs to form the alliance called Disability LIB (Listen Include Build). It will be the UK’s first capacity-building alliance led by disabled people.

Disability LIB has been granted £4.2million from the Big Lottery Fund to fund the project for the next three years. It the second largest single grant received from the Big Lottery Fund’s capacity building programme BASIS (Building and Sustaining Infrastructure Services).

Disability LIB is aimed at helping 200 DPOs in England to boost their performance by improving their management and organisational systems.

Many DPOs – which are run and led by disabled people - are being forced to close down, or are barely surviving because of the substantial barriers they face and because their specific capacity building needs are not being addressed, or in some cases even identified, by the mainstream voluntary and community sector.

Common barriers include severe financial constraints, difficulties accessing funding because of inaccessible application processes and timescales (which do not take the needs of disabled staff into account) and isolation from mainstream sector activity.

Disability LIB will help DPOs access the support and services they need to function effectively. Apart from Scope, the alliance’s members are all DPOs: Disability Awareness in Action, People First, the United Kingdom Disabled People’s Council (UKDPC), Equalities National Council, Alliance for Inclusive Education and Preston DISC (Disability Information Services Centre).

Andy Rickell, Chair of Disability LIB and an Executive Director at Scope, said:

“We are delighted to have secured funding for this ground-breaking project which is aimed at creating a new sustainable, high performing generation of disabled people’s organisations.

“Sadly, many DPOs are facing an uphill struggle, or are on the brink of extinction because their needs are not being met by the mainstream voluntary sector. Disability LIB - which is led and controlled by disabled people – will harness the skills and expertise of its members to strengthen DPOs. This will in turn help empower disabled people in local communities across England and play an important role in enabling them to have more choice and control in their lives.”

Rachel Hurst, CBE, Director of Disability Awareness in Action, said:

“We have a real opportunity to strengthen the voice and activities of disabled people. We are all determined to use that opportunity to the full.”

Disability LIB will be formally launched on February 28 when it will publish a report outlining the challenges and opportunities facing DPOs.

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For more information please contact Suzanne Stevenson in the Scope press office on 020 7619 7203 or email suzanne.stevenson@scope.org.uk

For out-of-hours press enquiries please call 020 7619 7200.

Notes to Editors:

Disability LIB will also work with two mainstream capacity-building organisations – Emason Training and Pilotlight.

The alliance will match the skills of its seven members on areas where support is required such as human resources, finance and public relations. It will also provide advice and information through a dedicated website, ‘how to’ guides and toolkits.

The alliance will focus on six key areas to boost the performance of DPOs: management and governance, networking, business skills and social enterprise, involvement and inclusion, creating a higher profile for the sector and leadership.

It is estimated there are around 1,000 DPOs in the UK. Disability LIB will focus on 200 DPOs but many more are expected to benefit from its support.