Policy paper

British Sign Language 5-year plan: Department of Health and Social Care (English and BSL versions)

Published 21 July 2025

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

 BSL version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pyLYqI2-rI

Introduction

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is committed to:

• making our communications as inclusive as possible
• improving the accessibility of our public communications for everyone, including the Deaf community and British Sign Language (BSL) users

Over the last 3 years since the introduction of the BSL Act, the department has added BSL translation to:

• a range of communications on priority announcements, such as the Smokefree Generation
• consultations such as the Down Syndrome Act call for evidence and Men’s Health Strategy for England call for evidence

However, we recognise the need to do more.

Plan for Change

Improving access to health and care services is an integral and vital part of the government’s Plan for Change and our work to develop a 10 Year Health Plan.

In delivering the Plan for Change, the government announced the integration of DHSC with NHS England. They will form a new joint centre that will be citizen-focused, putting people and communities first.

The new organisation will be at the centre of a new operating model for health and care to deliver the government’s Health Missions and 10 Year Health Plan. This will create improvements in the public’s health, and high-quality NHS and social care services across England.

As we work towards establishing the newly-integrated organisation over the year ahead we will develop a more comprehensive 5-year BSL plan for the new organisation. This will come into being in the 2026 to 2027 reporting year.

The plan below sets out the steps we will take in our current form as DHSC. This will be updated at the end of the first year to reflect the functions and responsibilities of the new integrated organisation. Milestones will be set across the remaining 4 years of the refreshed plan.

Actions

Continue to improve the accessibility of our content on GOV.UK, including the use of BSL

Year-on-year increase the number of publications, consultations and calls for evidence using BSL, including the Men’s Health Strategy.

Increase the use of BSL on our social media channels 

Year-on-year increase in:

• the use of BSL within our social media content
• the number of BSL videos on the DHSC YouTube channel and BSL playlist

Advice to policy teams on using BSL in their publications and consultations, using Government Communication Service BSL Guidance 

Strengthen our advice to policy teams about:

• understanding how policy and communications have an effect on citizens
• understanding their needs and requirements
• making our publications and communications as inclusive and accessible as possible
• factoring in time to produce accessible versions, particularly for consultations

Better promote awareness, understanding and use of BSL within DHSC

Run an internal communications campaign in the 2025 to 2026 reporting year. This will  raise staff awareness of the importance of BSL and share examples of good practice. Follow up with a refreshed awareness campaign for the 2026 to 2027 reporting year for staff in the newly-integrated DHSC and NHS England.

Engagement with the BSL community

Strengthen the department’s engagement with the BSL community and stakeholders including the RNID. 

Work with the Office for Equality and Opportunity to continue identifying opportunities to engage BSL users.