PRESS RELEASE
The Gibraltar Disability Society listened with interest to today’s budget during which the Chief Minister announced the following with relation to disability issues:
‘Disability Benefit will rise with the rate of inflation which is expected to be 8%’; the Disability Society is pleased that once again this year’s rise will be in line with inflation.
‘Government have started work on the extension of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’; this is something that the Disability Society has been pushing for over many years. The Society worked hard to bring in the Disability Act 2017 (Agnes Law), which was a major step towards putting legislation in place to allow forward movement on the extension of the UN Convention into Gibraltar.
‘In 2019 a tax incentive was introduced to encourage businesses to facilitate access to persons with disabilities in existing premises. This initiative has been extended for a further 2 years’; the Disability Society understands that Government has taken into consideration that Covid prevented many businesses from taking advantage of this initiative hence extending this from the original 3 years. However, the Society is disappointed that this, once again, delays the commencement of Sections 13 & 14 of the Disability Act 2017.