Annual report

We have continued to put the everyday experiences of disabled people at the heart of everything we do.

We supported 3.7 million customer requests for information, advice and support last year. We did this through our helpline, our online information and advice, and our online community.

Our reach increased by 300,000 over the year before.

Every child and teenager should be able to fulfil their potential and have the confidence to succeed as they grow up.

But disabled children and their families face daily challenges that make life harder.

Supporting disabled families

We supported 3,014 people through our family services. That's almost 1,000 more people than in 2021 to 2022.

Our Sleep Right service worked with 1,070 families to improve their disabled child’s sleep and parents’ resilience and wellbeing.

542 parents and carers received practical and emotional support through Navigate, our national mentoring service

Our Parents Connect support programme worked with 152 parents and carers.

Our Activities for All inclusion service supported 95 families with information and advice. 23 disabled children were supported to access mainstream activities such as Brownies, drama groups and after school clubs. And 10 mainstream settings were supported to become more inclusive for disabled children.

Campaigning for change

We launched our Let’s Play Fair campaign, calling on Government to make playgrounds inclusive. Over 30,000 people backed our call and 500 campaigners contacted their local MP to tell them why playgrounds should be inclusive.

As a member of the Disabled Children’s Partnership, we joined other charities to campaign for improved health and social care for disabled children, young people and their families.

We empowered disabled people through our information, advice and support, so that they can make informed decisions about their lives.

We also worked to remove barriers that can prevent disabled people from fulfilling their aspirations.

Information and advice

We reached over 3.73 million people through our helpline, our online information and advice, and our online community.

Attitudes research

We published ground-breaking new research into attitudes towards disabled people. Our research is the largest of its kind globally.

We found that 3 in 4 disabled people have experienced negative attitudes or behaviour, in the last 5 years.

Shining a light on equality champions

We launched the Scope Disability Equality Awards. The awards to celebrate the achievements of people campaigning for disability equality.

Working with communities

We launched our new Youth Community Collective service, supported by Barclays, in Cardiff, Leeds, London, Manchester and Peterborough. In its first year a total of 1,020 young people and 141 professionals have engaged with us through a variety of events.

Our Connecting Communities Grants programme allocated £1.5 million in grants to organisations working with disabled people who were hardest hit by the pandemic.

Scope is determined to change the financial future for disabled people. We believe all disabled people should have the right to a decent standard of living and the opportunity to work if they want to.

Employment support

We offered tailored support to 2,309 disabled people helping them to move closer to or get into work.

Disability Energy Support

We supported a total of 42,275 customers with information and advice through our Helpline and Disability Energy Support service. Giving vital help as the cost of living soared.

Disabled people achieved estimated savings of £1.9 million, through our Disability Energy Support with Water service.

We worked with UK Power Networks to issue 2,094 fuel vouchers. These provided emergency support to disabled customers with credit meters.

Campaigning on cost of living and extra costs

We campaigned to reduce extra costs that disabled people face, through our Cost of living crisis campaign. We got the Chancellor and Prime Minister to recognise that life costs more if you are disabled. And to create specific disability cost of living payments for disabled people.

Our Cost of Breathing Crisis TV advert with ITV raised awareness with millions of viewers. The advert was inspired by the real stories that Scope’s helpline hears every day.

We campaigned for a fairer benefits system through our Disability Benefits Without the Fight campaign. We succeeded in a government announcement that they will run a trial, matching a person’s primary health condition to a specialist assessor.

We published our latest Disability Price Tag research. Showing that on average, disabled households need £975 more a month, to have the same standard of living as non-disabled households.

Supporting businesses

We launched Scope for Business, a website that supports businesses to be more accessible and inclusive for disabled people.

We delivered 50 Workplace Disability sessions. And our Inclusion Programme reached over 1,400 people and supported many organisations.

Disabled people and their families’ experiences are key to everything we do.

We now have over 114 Scope storytellers. They share their stories to make everyday equality a reality.

We grew our membership by 463 Members, including 200 new young Members (18 to 25 years old). Our members are a vibrant community at the heart of our organisation. They help to shape our strategy and our work.

We’ve grown our Research Panel to include over 2,000 disabled people, parents and carers. The Panel helps us gather insights and develop new products and services, making sure they meet disabled people’s needs. Last year, utility companies, travel companies and health care providers worked with our Research Panel to gain valuable insight from disabled people.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

In 2023, we published our first Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy. The strategy was co-produced with disabled people. There are 16 million disabled people in the UK. The disabled community is diverse and made up of people with different identities, experiences and backgrounds. We can’t achieve equality for all disabled people without including everyone.

We want equality, diversity and inclusion to be at the heart of everything we do. Our campaigns must reflect the multiple marginalisation faced by members of the disabled community. Our services must be accessible and inclusive to all. We must be a workplace where everyone can thrive and feel that they belong.

We will embed EDI as a central part of Scope’s next strategy. Everyone at Scope has a role to play. As we put in place our EDI strategy, we will continue to listen, learn and keep improving.

In 2022 to 2023, we raised a total of £44.1 million. That’s an increase of 6% on last year (41.5 million in 2021 to 2022).

We are grateful to everyone that supports us to continue fighting for disability equality.

We are funded through our:

• charity shops
• public donations
• work with corporate and other partners
• funding from Government Grants and Trusts, and
• fee income from accessibility services

Our charitable spending

Every pound we raise is important to us. We plan our use of resources carefully to the greatest impact.

Charitable spending is the proportion of a charity’s total spending that is used on the cause.

The net profit from our retail sales, together with other fundraising income, enabled us to spend £19.5 million on charitable activities. These support our mission for everyday equality, and include:

• our helpline
• our communities
• employment and other programmes
• our research
• influencing
• our campaigning work

This represents a 35% increase on the previous year. The rest goes towards running our organisation, operating our shops investing in our fundraising activities to provide income for the future.

Pence in the pound

In 2022 to 2023, for every £1 we spent, 69p was spent on our charitable activities to help disabled people and their families. Compared to 66p the previous year.

In common with most similar charities, we exclude the cost of running our online and high street shops from this calculation.

Our trading activities operate like other retail businesses, with costs such as:

• rent
• salaries
• utility bills

Investing money in running our charity shops enables us to generate charitable funds. It also helps us to reach people in their communities. Our shops are not just about income. Our shops are at the heart of their communities and support our charitable work.

They provide:

• signposting to information
• support
• ways to get involved with our campaigning

Many of our shops also support disabled people through volunteering and apprenticeship opportunities.

Investment

2022 to 2023 was a year of significant investment for Scope. As planned, we invested in strategic projects that we had been forced to put on hold for the last few years.

We also invested further in our fundraising efforts, to build our income to fund future activities. This included investment in recruiting new supporters and improving our supporter experience.

This investment contributed to a net decrease in funds for the year of £8.9 million.

Our financial plan for the year was to operate at a deficit funded from our reserves. This plan allows us to continue our vital work supporting disabled people and their families, while we continue to grow our income.

Looking ahead

As we come to the end of our current strategy period for Everyday Equality, we’ll continue our momentum with a new 10-year strategy.

We will make sure our work to campaign for equality is guided by the experiences of the UK’s 16 million disabled people. We’ll stay committed to co-producing our work with disabled people and their families. Amplifying their voices and making a larger impact together.