Policy, public affairs and research

The policy, public affairs and research team at Sense leads our work on influencing government and policy makers. They’re responsible for managing all of our relationships with parliamentarians, civil servants and wider decision makers.

We want to make meaningful differences in the lives of the people supported by Sense. To do this, we help decision makers to understand more about the lives of people with complex disabilities.

By listening to disabled people and learning more about the lives of them and their families, we can ensure that our policy and campaign work is grounded in the experiences of disabled people. Our Statistics section shows our latest research.

Our research provides insight and knowledge that help the general public, decision makers, and organisations to make changes that benefit people who are deafblind or have other complex disabilities.

Key areas of focus

Our areas of policy focus are based around the needs of people with complex disabilities:

Adult social care.
Children’s social care.
SEND (Special educational needs and disabilities).
Welfare benefits.
Employment for disabled people.

We also monitor what opportunities there are to maximise our impact. Where possible, we work in coalitions with other organisations to ensure that the sector provides a more powerful and united voice.

Latest articles

Why Rishi Sunak is wrong about our benefits system

On Friday, the Prime Minister pledged to tackle Britain’s so-called ‘sick note culture’. Promising to ‘control welfare’ if re-elected, he announced that the Government would consult on reforming Personal Independence Payments. We don’t know yet…

Government report calls out insufficient benefit levels

Given the way that some politicians and commentators have talked about welfare in recent months, you could be forgiven for thinking that people who claim benefits can afford to live a life of luxury (so…

A man in a shirt and tie smiles at the camera.

We need to flip the narrative on disability benefits

As Chief Executive of Sense, I think it is critical for leaders to engage with policy debates but to be constructive and offer solutions. Charities must be true to their beliefs and opinions but be…

Two women are sitting at desks, working on computers.

Will working from home fix the disability employment gap?

At last month’s Autumn Statement, the Government set out its grand plan to erase the Disability Employment Gap. Heralding ‘greater flexibility and availability of home working since the pandemic’, the Chancellor said that the Work…

See a full list of all our policy blogs

Get in touch

If you are an MP, peer or from government and would like more information about the work of Sense and how you could be involved locally and nationally contact the team on [email protected].

If you are a researcher, or would like to know more about our policy research work please contact [email protected].