EU Council calls for affordable person-centered support services for persons with disabilities and independent living in new Disability Strategy actions

EU Council calls for affordable person-centered support services for persons with disabilities and independent living in new Disability Strategy actions

On 17 October 2025, the Council of the EU held a meeting where employment and social policy ministers of the EU countries approved Conclusions on the social inclusion of persons with disabilities through the promotion of independent living called Member States to:

• To use the European Commission’s Guidance on Independent Living (new EPR Briefing on the Guidance available here) to prepare policies, strategies and actions.
• Promote access to and affordability of person-centred support services, including personal assistance, assistive technology, accessible information and communication technologies and services, supported decision making and organised support systems (e.g. peer support, centres for independent living and supported living arrangements)
• Ensure that services available to the general population are also available, accessible, affordable, inclusive and adaptable for persons with disabilities.
• Increase the availability of affordable, accessible, inclusive, non-segregated and safe places of residence within the community for persons with disabilities.
• Provide training for service providers to facilitate person-centred support and service provision in the community, with the aim of supporting independent living in accordance with the UNCRPD.

It also called on the European Commission to have a continued focus on promoting and ensuring independent living when presenting initiatives and actions as part of the second half of the Disability Strategy, and to fill any remaining policy gaps. The Council conclusions  asked the European Commission to assess the EU market for assistive technologies and take further action to ensure the freedom of movement of assistive technologies across the EU. Finally it called for the inclusion of disability in all relevant EU policies, such as the European Preparedness Union Strategy, the Affordable Housing Plan, or the EU Anti-Poverty Strategy.

In that same session, employment and social policy ministers discussed their priorities for the new actions of the Disability Strategy. Ministers underlined the importance of consulting persons with disabilities and organisations representing them in upcoming policy at the EU and national level. Key priorities for the Disability Strategy’s new actions included a focus on assistive technologies, as well as digitalisation and AI, monitoring the implementation of key initiatives such as the EU Accessibility Act, and the European Disability and Parking cards, the importance of enhancing the accessibility to education and employment of persons with disabilities, their inclusion in the community, as well as the accessibility of public services (e.g. social services, healthcare, transport). Ministers underlined the importance of including the perspective of disabilities within policies that are not specific on the topic of disability, also known as “disability mainstreaming”. Moreover, several countries also underlined the importance of adopting the Equal Treatment Directive, to prevent the discrimination of persons with disabilities (previous EPR news article on this topic available here). 

The European Parliament will be next in stating its priorities for the upcoming Disability Strategy actions, and is expected to adopt its report “EU Strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities post-2024” on 26 November 2025 in its Plenary Session in Strasbourg.

Council Conclusions of Social Inclusions of persons with disabilities through the promotion of independent living available here.

Steering note of exchange of views “Advancing disability rights in the EU: challenges, progress, and future directions” available here. The recording of the discussion is available here.