Barriers to Accessible Transport Training

The Department for Transport (DfT) is a ministerial department within the UK Government. It works with its agencies and partners to support the transport network that enables people and goods to travel around the country. It plans and invests in transport infrastructure to keep the UK on the move.

DfT has always been keen to increase staff members’ understanding of disability equality and has procured previous iterations of this training in the past. This latest round of training will coincide with a wider initiative, across the whole Department, to encourage all staff to learn more about how the transport network impacts on all those who use it by visiting areas of the network and interacting with stakeholders. Having a greater understanding of how users experience transport will help the Department to make better decisions that benefit more people.

DfT requires a supplier to deliver Barriers to Accessible Transport training to staff across the Department, including its agencies and arm’s-length bodies. The requirement supports DfT’s wider commitment to increasing staff understanding of disability equality and how disabled people experience the transport network. It also responds to the significant gap between accessibility rights and obligations, and the day-to-day experiences of disabled passengers highlighted by the Transport Select Committee’s March 2025 report, Access Denied: rights versus reality in disabled people’s access to transport.

The training will combine a guided tour of the transport network, supported by disabled guides with lived experience, with classroom-based disability equality learning. It is intended to help staff identify barriers, understand the Social Model of Disability, build accessibility and inclusive design into their work, and make better decisions that improve the experience of disabled transport users. DfT initially requires 12 full-day sessions for up to 20 participants per session over a 12-month period. Delivery will begin from DfT’s London office, with the ability to provide similar training from offices in Birmingham, Leeds, York and potentially other UK locations.