Disabled Britons Face a Postcode Lottery on Travelling Abroad With Support
MPs and peers say disabled people in the UK should have a guaranteed right to travel abroad with the support they need.
Leading figures want the UK government to introduce clear national guidelines so people who need full-time personal assistants (PAs), paid workers who help with daily tasks, can use care funding for holidays and work trips, according to reporting published on 18 September 2026. The Guardian
The dispute comes down to where people live. Continuing healthcare and social care decisions are made locally, and two men with the same health condition and similar care packages face different rules on overseas travel with PA support a few miles apart.
Joel, 40, has spinal muscular atrophy, a condition that weakens muscles, and needs round-the-clock help. His local health board will not let him use his personal health budget, the NHS money he directs to meet his assessed needs, to help pay his PAs' travel costs outside the UK. David, 25, lives in a neighbouring health board area and receives a specific allocation for travel costs. He travelled to Europe this summer with his PA support team.
Joel has effectively been unable to travel overseas for eight years. He can cover his own fares and accommodation but cannot cover the equivalent costs for his two PAs without drawing on his funded package. His NHS funder, now the Cheshire and Merseyside NHS integrated care board, the local NHS body that manages spending, previously permitted such use. Eight years ago it reversed that position to rule PA travel costs were valid for domestic travel only.
Debbie Abrahams, chair of the Commons work and pensions select committee, said the restrictions could potentially breach the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the international agreement on disabled people's rights. Disability rights campaigner Jane Campbell described the care restrictions on travel as "ridiculous" and against common sense.
The call follows reporting on 2 September 2026 headlined "'I want to live': the disabled people unable to go abroad because of care funding refusal." That reporting found NHS care boards and local councils were blocking disabled people from travelling abroad by refusing to allow care funding to be used for overseas travel. The Guardian
Campaigners told the paper that care users face inconsistent decisions on overseas support even though funding continues at existing package levels rather than increasing for travel, so there is no extra cost to the taxpayer. They said there are no clear or consistent NHS or council-wide rules clarifying the right to use care funding for travel abroad.
The broader context here is how this funding system works. Personal health budgets and direct payments give people choice over how assessed needs are met, like holding a set budget and choosing how to spend it within the rules. But commissioning policy on what counts as a legitimate use sits with integrated care boards and local authorities. That produces lawful variation, and it creates sharp boundary effects for people with high-cost, PA-dependent packages.
In my view, three questions matter most for policymakers. First, cost. If PA wages and travel disbursements are already funded domestically, portability for short periods may be cost-neutral, though commissioners weigh risk, insurance liability and accountability for public funds differently. Second, equality law. The UN Convention sets expectations on independent living and participation, and domestic effect turns on NHS guidance, the Care Act framework and public sector equality duties. Third, work mobility. For PA users in employment, a domestic-only rule limits access to conferences, assignments and cross-border collaboration. A uniform position would reduce disputes at annual reviews and limit the leverage of individual funding panels, but operational detail would remain, including caps on travel disbursements, responsibility for travel insurance, employment status of PAs while abroad, and safeguarding oversight.
