The Mayor's Action Plan for Deaf and Disabled Londoners
In September 2026, the Mayor launched the first Action Plan for Deaf and Disabled Londoners, to make London a more inclusive and welcoming city.
Why we created this plan
The Mayor has a vision to make London a fairer and more inclusive city for everyone. It is his goal that London is a place where everyone is equally respected and valued, and able to thrive.
London is home to 1.2 million Deaf and Disabled people, who play an enormous role in making London the city that it is. However, too many Deaf and Disabled Londoners continue to face structural inequalities that prevent them from fully participating in and benefitting from life in London. They face persistent barriers when it comes to:
- transport
- employment
- education
- accessible housing
- feeling safe in their communities.
Deaf and Disabled Londoners are also disproportionately affected by financial hardship and the ongoing cost of living crisis.
City Hall is working with Deaf and Disabled Londoners to address these inequalities and ensure that we design systems and processes with the people they affect in mind. We sought to understand what issues most impacted their lives and which actions were of the highest priority.
Based on engagement with Deaf and Disabled Londoners, the Action Plan for Deaf and Disabled Londoners sets out the bold actions that we will be taking to address these structural inequalities and improve outcomes for Deaf and Disabled people in London.
It marks a clear step forward in our journey to improving life for Deaf and Disabled Londoners.
What's included
Deaf and Disabled Londoners have told us what impacts their daily lives the most. The key impact areas that have been included within the Action Plan are:
- poverty and inequality
- policing and safety
- housing and planning
- transport
- employment and skills
- ways of working at the Greater London Authority
Where the Mayor has the powers and levers to do so, each priority area is underpinned by a bold headline commitment, supported by a set of commitments and actions designed to deliver that overarching ambition.
Across each of the six priority areas included within the Plan, we have made commitments that will seek to take collective action to address the barriers faced by Deaf and Disabled Londoners and ensure London is an accessible, inclusive and fairer city for all.
What to expect
With this Action Plan, Deaf and Disabled Londoners can expect:
- More work with Disabled Londoners to shape the Mayor's response on disability benefits and income issues.
- Improved accessible advice by embedding their needs through staff training and governance roles.
- Improved benefit take-up via income maximisation.
- Improved support to report crime and access victim services, including safer reporting routes and a stronger voice in the Victims' Voice forum.
- Greater inclusion of lived experience in policing oversight and decision-making, supported by co-production, advisory groups and training.
- Improved evacuation planning and emergency support through work with the London Fire Brigade and local authorities.
- More accessible and better-designed homes, increased safe accommodation for Disabled survivors of domestic abuse.
- Improved data and accountability to strengthen housing access, stronger support for partners to meet local accessibility needs.
- Greater inclusion of lived experience in decision-making, alongside work to improve access to suitable homes across all tenures.
- More work to tackle employment barriers shaped by their lived experience.
- Testing new ways to support access to work.
- More accessible workplaces.
- Improved skills provision and training.
- Stronger focus on inclusive and intersectional approaches across programmes.
- Stronger accountability and a greater voice in decision-making.
- Improved accessibility across Greater London Authority services and events.
- Fairer access to programmes through better data, targeted funding, and inclusive procurement.
Tracking progress and impact
We will monitor progress of the commitments and provide quarterly updates to the Greater London Authority's Deaf and Disabled People's Organisations Forum (DDPO) engagement forum, as well as publishing this data on london.gov.uk.
Explore the action plan
Executive summary
Full Action Plan
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