Since 2010, BuDS has helped its volunteers towards work. Our Reach4Work project, created in 2018, codified and developed that help, creating a professional wrap-around service for our disabled volunteers who want to move into or closer to work.
BuDS is exceptionally successful at moving disabled jobseeker volunteers into or closer to work…
Please note that the BuDDies scheme is currently on hold due to ongoing challenges facing charity funding across England. Find out more at the button below.
Are you feeling lonely or stressed at home? Need a friendly chat with someone who understands? The BuDS BuDDies are here to help!
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BuDS publishes some of our articles in EasyRead format. These articles are produced by our volunteers, and so our capacity is limited. Over time we will publish more EasyRead articles. Please be patient with us whilst we grow this project.
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The BuDS Enquiries Team answers questions and queries from disabled people about a very wide range of issues. We try to fill the gaps left by other support services and helplines, so we often support disabled people with complex and difficult issues.
Any disabled person in England can contact the Enquiries project for help. Parents, carers, and supporters can also contact us on behalf of a disabled person. We don’t have strict rules about who we can help: we will always do our best to support you and will let you know immediately if, for any reason, we can’t.
The Enquiries project is staffed entirely by volunteers, many of them disabled people themselves. We are often very busy and there may be a delay in getting back to you. We are sorry about this, but we can only do so much. The Enquiries project is not a crisis or emergency service.
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The BuDS SEND Transitions Service is a three-year project funded by The Rothschild Foundation. The purpose of the SEND Transitions Service is to improve the experience of disabled children and young people moving through key transitions within school education and from school education into work or further/higher education. It will do this by:
The SEND Transitions Service is made up of workstreams from a number of BuDS projects, principally Fair4All Education and Reach4Work.
To learn more about the Reach4Work workstream, which is looking at disabled young people’s transition from education to employment, click here.
Fair4All Visitors is a BuDS project to help visitor attractions to be more accessible and inclusive for disabled people.
The Fair4All Education project tackles the most important educational issues facing disabled children and young people, and their parents/carers, in Bucks.
The core of the Fair4All Education project is a ‘working community’ of professionals, parents, carers and disabled young people who are passionate about making a real difference. Working under the BuDS umbrella, the Fair4All Education team works together to define an agenda for action and plan how change will be made to happen.
Read MoreDisabled people are often excluded from outdoor public events. This is not because they do not want to attend these events, but because the way the event is organized and staged creates barriers that make it difficult or impossible for them to attend. BuDS’ free-to-use Fair4All event project helps event organisers remove those barriers and attract more disabled people to their events, making them more successful. There are over 40,000 disabled people in Buckinghamshire and over 100,000 families with a disabled member, so being more accessible can significantly boost an event’s popularity and attendance.
Event organisers are often not aware that they are creating barriers which are reducing the appeal of their events. Event management training and qualifications do not usually cover disabled accessibility and inclusion. Disabled people are so used to events not being accessible that most do not even try to attend, which means event organisers do not see the difficulties that disabled people face.
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Disabled people are sometimes subject to abuse, insults or physical violence because of their disability. The BuDS Fair4All Attitudes and Hate Crime project supports people affected by disability hate, helps them report it to the police if they wish, and campaigns to change attitudes and combat hostility toward disabled people.
Read MoreThe IAG team works tirelessly to produce easy to read, fact-checked and reliable articles about issues relevant to disabled people. During the Covid-19 pandemic, these have included weekly risk posts which break down the latest case, hospitalisation, death and vaccination statistics; analyses of Government policy, and scientific updates about the coronavirus. To read these posts, please see below or visit our Facebook page using the button below:
If you would like to volunteer for the IAG team as a researcher or writer, please visit our volunteering page to find out more.
The Fair4All Card is a secure, evidence based card that can be used by any disabled person to communicate the reasonable adjustments they need.
We created the scheme in August 2020 and have grown from offering around 12 reasonable adjustments to now offering over 40.
Find out more about the scheme below.
There are lots of weather and weather-related health warnings issued these days. It can be difficult to know which ones are important and need you to do something. To help you, BuDS has decided that it will start posting the most significant weather and weather health warnings on its own website and social media. That way, if you see that BuDS is repeating or endorsing an official warning, you know it really matters to you as a disabled person. We will only do this for warnings affecting England, not Scotland or Wales.
Weather warnings are issued by the Met Office. Their scientists forecast how the weather is going to affect the UK and, if severe weather is expected, they issue a warning.
Yellow ‘Advice’ Warnings – there are two types of yellow weather warning.
BuDS has decided that it will not repeat or amplify yellow weather warnings. This is because we want people to always take seriously a weather warning amplified by BuDS, and yellow weather warnings are often not serious or relevant enough to be worth repeating.
Amber ‘Caution’ Warnings – there are two types of amber weather warning.
BuDS has decided that it will repeat both types of amber weather warnings. This is because disabled people will be most affected by disruptive weather and we want them to have prompt, accurate information to help them manage the period of disruption.
Red ‘Danger’ Warnings – when the Met Office issues a red weather warning, it means that there is a big risk to people’s life, with widespread damage to buildings and the landscape also likely. Power cuts, flooding and other emergencies are also likely and the Government or councils may have to issue guidance for the public or start up emergency plans. People should not travel during a red warning. Red weather warnings will also usually be sent by emergency alert direct to people’s mobile phones in affected areas.
BuDS has decided that it will repeat and amplify red weather warnings. This is because disabled people are most at risk in weather emergencies and we want them to have prompt, accurate information to help them keep safe.
Health weather warnings are issued in England by the UK Health Security Agency, or UKHSA. If UKHSA thinks that upcoming hot or cold weather may be a risk to people’s health, they issue an alert. These alerts are only sent about hot or cold weather and not any other threat to health, for example a disease outbreak.
Although the media report UKHSA weather health warnings, they are not really intended for the general public. They are supposed to be warnings for the NHS, councils and other health and social care organisations, to alert them to an expected increase in demand for their services.
The UKHSA take a lot of things into account before issuing a weather health warning. Health weather warnings are not just about whether the temperatures will be particularly hot or cold, but whether hot or cold weather is expected to have particularly bad effects in people’s health and so make them use NHS and care services more.
UKHSA look at four things when deciding to issue a hot weather heat alert. These are:
If some or all of these things are likely to happen, the NHS will issue a ‘Heat-Health Alert’. These alerts will be graded as Low, Medium or High
Low Heat-Health Alert – this alert, issued when daytime temperatures are above 27 degrees centigrade (28 in London), tells the NHS and care organisations that demand for health and care services is likely to be higher than usual, 10% more people will die than usual (mostly older and vulnerable people), and hospital and other buildings will become ‘very warm’.
BuDS has decided that it will not usually repeat or amplify Low Heat-Health Alerts warnings. This is because summer temperatures are now regularly above 27C and we would end up repeating a lot of alerts which might mean people did not take notice of more serious alerts.
Medium Heat-Health Alert – this alert issued when daytime temperatures are above 30 degrees centigrade (32 in London), tells the NHS and care organisations that demand for health and care services, especially emergency services, will be much greater than normal. 20% more people than usual will die, and mostly older people or those with health conditions but also children or babies. Patients in hospital or care will be at risk of dehydration, and hospital and other buildings will become overheated. Disabled, vulnerable and older people in the community will be at risk from heat. NHS and care staff availability will reduce.
BuDS has decided that it will repeat Medium Heat-Health Alerts. This is because disabled people will be most affected by hotter weather and the reduced health and care services which will happen in hotter weather. We want disabled people to have prompt, accurate information to help them manage the period of very hot weather.
High Heat-Health Alert – this alert, issued when daytime temperatures are above 38 degrees centigrade (40 in London), tells the NHS and care organisations that demand for health and care services, especially emergency services, will be very significantly greater than normal. 50% more people will die than normal, with people of all ages affected, but especially large numbers of older people. Patients in hospital or care will be at risk of heatstroke and dehydration, and hospital and other buildings may become too hot for use. Disabled, vulnerable and older people in the community will be significantly affected from heat. NHS and care staff availability will be significantly reduced.
BuDS has decided that it will repeat and amplify High Heat-Health Alerts. This is because disabled people are most at risk in heat emergencies and we want them to have prompt, accurate information to help them keep safe.
UKHSA look at three things when deciding to issue a cold weather heat alert. These are:
If some or all of these things are likely to happen, the NHS will issue a ‘Cold-Health Alert’. These alerts will be graded as Low, Medium or High
Low Cold-Health Alert – this alert, issued when average temperatures are predicted to be below 2 degrees centigrade for more than 48 hours, tells the NHS and care organisations that demand for health and care services is likely to be higher than usual, More people will die than usual, mostly older and vulnerable people.
BuDS has decided that it will not usually repeat or amplify Low Cold-Health Alerts warnings. This is because winter temperatures are now regularly below 2C and we would end up repeating a lot of alerts which might mean people did not take notice of more serious alerts.
Medium Cold-Health Alert – this alert is issued when average temperatures are predicted to be below 2C for 5 days or under zero for 48 hours. This alert tells the NHS and care organisations that demand for health and care services, especially emergency services, will be much greater than normal. Significantly more people than usual will die, mostly older people or those with health conditions but also children or babies. Disabled, vulnerable and older people in the community, especially those living rough, will be at risk from cold. NHS and care staff availability will reduce.
BuDS has decided that it will repeat Medium Cold-Health Alerts. This is because disabled people will be most affected by colder weather and the reduced health and care services which will happen in colder weather. We want disabled people to have prompt, accurate information to help them manage the period of cold or freezing weather.
High Cold-Health Alert – this alert is issued when average temperatures are predicted to be below zero for 5 days or -2C for 48 hours. This alert tells the NHS and care organisations that demand for health and care services, especially emergency services, will be very significantly greater than normal. Significantly more people will die than normal, with people of all ages affected, but especially large numbers of older people. Patients in hospital or care will be affected by staff shortages and disruption to supplies. Disabled, vulnerable and older people in the community will be significantly affected by cold and the reduction of homecare services. NHS and care staff availability will be significantly reduced.
BuDS has decided that it will repeat and amplify High Cold-Health Alerts. This is because disabled people are most at risk in freezing conditions and we want them to have prompt, accurate information to help them keep safe.
BuDS is helping disabled people to be aware of weather and health alerts through our Health & Disability Information, Advice & Guidance (IAG) project. We want disabled people to have prompt access to accurate and honest information and guidance that they most need in their everyday lives. We receive no grant funding for this work. If you’d like to make a donation, or volunteer to help us in this work, use the buttons below.
If you are in a disability hate crime crisis or situation, there are many organisations you can contact for help. BuDS has compiled a list of them, and their contact details. If you want to shortcut to a specific organisation, use the menu below. For each organisation, there is contact details and, where available, their website, as well as a brief description of their work.
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If you are in a mental health crisis, there are many organisations you can contact for help. BuDS has compiled a list of them, and their contact details. If you want to shortcut to a specific organisation, use the menu below. For each organisation, there is contact details and, where available, their website, as well as a brief description of their work.
On Sunday 23 April 2023 at 3pm, there will be a national test of the UK Emergency Alerts service. Many (but not all) mobile phones will make a loud siren-like sound, vibrate, and a test message will be read out to you. If your phone can receive alerts, you will still hear the test unless your mobile phone is completely turned off or is in flight mode. Compatible mobile phones set to silent will still receive the alert and make noise. Read on for more.
Read MoreThe Government announced earlier this year that, as part of their efforts to combat the Cost of Living crisis, all households will receive £400 off their energy bills this winter. This discount will be applied across a 6-month period, starting in October 2022. This does not need to be paid back to the Government and should be considered similar to a grant. Read on for more.
Read MoreChristmas can be a time for eating, drinking, spending time with family and friends, and generally getting into the holiday spirit. The Christmas season, however, can be especially tough for those who have a mental health issue.
Read MoreWith the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, BuDS is putting together a list of resources to help you find practical help in these difficult times. The list below is incomplete, and will be expanded as we complete more research.
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