Whitehouse Communications delivered the media launch of the Disability Employment Charter, a coalition of the UK’s leading disability charities, trade unions and academics with a shared set of practical measures for closing the disability employment gap. We secured launch coverage across trade and national press, including in The Sun, The Independent and Disability News Service. The Independent article on the Charter was subsequently referenced in Parliament, and the Minister mentioned the Charter in a speech in the House of Commons.
The challenge
The Disability Employment Charter is a coalition of the UK’s leading disability charities, trade unions and academics, and the largest such alliance to come together in this space on a single shared vision. The Charter sets out a series of practical measures the government should take to tackle the disability employment gap, including removing the cap on Access to Work and requiring large employers to publish annual data on the number of disabled people they employ, as a proportion of their workforce, and their pay gaps.
The Charter was created following the publication of the government’s National Disability Strategy, which disability voices universally agreed was woefully lacking. With the Charter ready to launch, the coalition were looking to secure media attention to push its recommendations up politicians’ and businesses’ agendas. A particular editorial challenge shaped the brief: many members of the coalition receive public funding for their work, so the launch coverage needed a strong news hook without being overly critical of the government.
Our approach
Whitehouse Communications worked in close partnership with the Charter coalition to develop and deliver a launch press strategy that would generate strong national and trade media interest while respecting the coalition’s need to remain relatively neutral on government policy.
The work focused on:
- Developing a launch press release that led on the strength and unprecedented breadth of the coalition, given that never before had so many disability organisations joined forces on a single project and political ask.
- Highlighting, in the launch materials, the gaps in support currently available for disabled people in the labour market, so as to educate the wider public on issues they are most likely unaware of.
- Following the launch, developing thought leadership pieces referencing the Charter and placing them with the biggest voices leading the conversation on disability in the UK.
The outcome
Whitehouse Communications secured launch coverage for the Disability Employment Charter across both trade and national press, including in The Sun, The Independent and Disability News Service. The Independent article on the Charter was subsequently referenced in Parliament, and the Minister mentioned the Charter in a speech in the House of Commons.
The parliamentary reference and the Minister’s Commons remarks demonstrated the direct political influence achievable through carefully calibrated media outreach, and validated the coalition’s decision to prioritise a launch campaign that opened the conversation without foreclosing further engagement with government.
