Scope has announced a five-year strategy to help it reach more people than ever before, which it has described as a “radical new departure” for the disability charity.
Its new strategy, Everyday equality, will focus on the priorities that disabled people have told Scope matter to them the most.
It will focus on supporting disabled people to:
1. Get the best start in life;
2. Live the life they choose; and
3. Be financially secure.
Scope hopes to reach two million disabled people and families by 2022, which it hopes to achieve through new services, information, advice and support delivered both face to face and digitally.
Over the next five years Scope will transform the way it offers support to disabled people by building new products and services which will aim to build resilience, skills and knowledge during the key moments in a disabled person’s life. It will also continue its work with businesses, the government and the public to influence public policy and change attitudes.
It will also be seeking to grow and diversify its retail operations in part to increase income but also as a channel through which to communicate Scope’s mission of everyday equality and build support for its work.
The strategy announcement follows the House of Lords Select Committee on Charities assertion that charities need to be more innovative in responding to the challenges they now face.
‘Changing radically’
In an article in our Voices section, Scope’s chair Andrew McDonald said: “At Scope, we recognise the landscape sketched by the Committee. We recognise the potential of charities to make our society fairer. We recognise that this is a tough environment in which to survive financially. And we recognise that yesterday's solutions, however good they once were, may not be relevant to the current and future needs of those for whom we exist.
“And so we are changing. Changing radically. That will be clear from even the most cursory glance at our new strategy, Everyday equality, which we launch today.”
McDonald said that change is not without risk, but that not changing is even riskier.
He said: “All charities must continue to change and innovate to remain relevant to those they represent. And the alternative? The cautious and the conservative will be the ones most at risk in the landscape depicted by the House of Lords Committee. As a sector, the greatest risk we face is a refusal to change.”
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Mark Atkinson, Scope’s chief executive, said: “Life today is much harder for disabled people than it needs to be. Our research has consistently shown the unfairness and the prejudice they face day-in, day-out. This is unacceptable. This strategy will help to realise a society in which they experience everyday equality.
“Everyday equality is about ensuring that disabled people aren’t made to feel inferior, aren’t treated unfairly, aren’t overlooked because of their impairment or condition. It’s about fairness, justice and rights – at home, at school, at work and in our communities.
“We have ambitious plans for the next five years. We want to have greater reach, greater impact and to bring about real and lasting change for disabled people in this country. We will be a bold and challenging force for social change.”
Former chief executive's departure
In 2015 Scope's former chief executive Richard Hawkes left the charity after five year's in the role. A statement released from McDonald, chair of the board, at the time said the board of trustees had reviewed the direction of the organisation over the six months since he had joined.
He continued: “We have agreed it is the right time for Richard to pass on the leadership of the organisation,” he said. “It is the right time for Scope and it is the right time for Richard.”
Hawkes is now chief executive of the British Asian Trust.
Read Andrew McDonald’s article on Scope’s strategy for change here.
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