Northamptonshire transport services for the disabled given £650,000 cash grant as partnership hopes to continue providing support for disabled communities

Serve and Ability, two of the leading community transport providers in Northamptonshire, have been awarded a community transport grant of £650,000 to help them improve community transport access for disabled and disadvantaged residents.

Over the next two years, funding from the Mobility Foundation will go towards ‘Project Serve-Ability’, the partnership between both organisations that aims to decrease isolation and loneliness and get people on the move by providing additional community transport vehicles as well as support staff and the recruitment of volunteers.

Lisa Jones, director of charitable operations at the Motability Foundation, said: “We’re delighted to award Serve and Ability with this grant to expand transport services across Northamptonshire, so that disabled people and people with mobility issues have greater access to travel.

“The joint project will increase community transport journeys for disabled passengers in the county by 40 per cent, which can be a lifeline to passengers by supporting independent living, reducing isolation, and improving access to services.

“Awarding grants to important local organisations like Serve and Ability helps us to make an immediate difference to the transport needs of disabled people.”

Serve is a voluntary organisation and a registered charity based in Rushden that has been providing services and assistance to older people and adults with disabilities in north Northamptonshire and the surrounding area for more than 40 years.

Jess Slater, CEO at Serve, said: “This is an exciting new partnership with Ability to come together to provide more transport options for residents.

"Not only are we sharing best practice but trying to ensure consistency and equitable transport options at local level.

“We know there are other transport providers in the county that cover different districts and offer alternative transport opportunities. Some of those providers are part of this project, we want this project to complement those organisations by giving more choice to residents who feel isolated.

"Serve is very pleased to be involved and look forward to more collaborative working.”

Ability was set up half a decade ago as a not-for-profit community interest company, with the primary goal of reducing social isolation and loneliness.

Ability has expanded enormously in the five years it has been operating, and now has hundreds of members across West Northamptonshire, helping local communities stay connected and improving people’s mental and physical well-being.Lynn Hinch, director and founder of Ability (Northants) CIC, added: “Many Northants residents are struggling to travel due to the bus service cuts preventing them access to medical, employment and leisure.

"Transport poverty has become an issue as people can no longer afford or access suitable transport and are relying on expensive alternatives.

"Serve and Ability have worked together for two years on an exciting opportunity, to secure vital funding, to improve the provision of transport services locally and work with providers across the county, connecting people with places to keep people independent.”

It is thought that disabled people make 38% fewer journeys than non-disabled people every year, a figure that has not changed in a decade.

Project Serve-Ability’s two key objectives, to be delivered by September 2025, include increasing community transport journeys for disabled passengers in Northamptonshire by 40 per cent, and disadvantaged passengers in the county by 20 per cent.