Changing Places Awareness Day 2024

It’s been another fantastic year at the Changing Places Toilet Consortium, and – as always - a busy one! Since last Changing Places Awareness Day, we’ve continued working with venues, government departments, suppliers and, of course, our amazing campaigners.

Read on for a run-down of all the key events from the past year:

DLUHC funding programme for Local Authorities

The capital fund for building CPTs was launched in England in 2022 to address the lack of provision nationally. Round one of the Government funding in England saw expressions of interest from 191 Local Authorities. Round two opened in 2023 and focused on Local Authorities that were identified as having the most need. 64 Local Authorities applied. This program of installations is now in its final stages   resulting in us  registering   over 400 new Changing Places  Toilets  so far with more yet to come .

DFT Funding Program for Transport Networks. 

This Government funded program has now seen over 50 CPT’S installed within  Motorway services stations across England  over the last few years. It’s in its final year with a few more   left to be installed  along with some additional  ones now also going into Networks Rail stations  too  .

2,000 Changing Places Toilets milestone reached in UK

The 15th November 2023 was a landmark day at the Changing Places Toilet Consortium: when we reached 2,000 Changing Places toilets registered and appearing on the official map! Elland Road Stadium was the 2,000th Changing Places toilet to be added to the official map: Changing Places Toilets (changing-places.org)

To have reached the 2,000th registered CPT is an amazing achievement, and a testament to the determination and dedication of our campaigners, as well as the commitment to inclusion from the venues who appear on our Changing Places toilets map.

Registrations of Changing Places toilets began back in 2008, with just 13 CPTs registered in that first year; we now have over 2400 on the map. 

Collaboration with other stakeholders.

We are delighted to be supporting new organisations that have  now committed to programmes of Installations too   , these  include  Butlins, New Forestry England  and P& O Ferries . We also continue working with other organisations such as National Trust and Lloyds Bank as they continue to build more Changing Places Toilets . 

The National Diversity awards

We were thrilled to have been nominated for an award under the Community Organisation Award, Disability category and attended the awards ceremony in September. Unfortunately, we didn’t win, but we were proud to be amongst some amazing nominees and to be shortlisted!

Changing Places Toilets Development Programme Update in Scotland

At end of 2023, PAMIS welcomed the opportunity to meet with Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport, Maree Todd to discuss the Changing Places toilet programme for Scotland as well as the development of a new dedicated fund to increase the number of Changing Places toilets across the country. The Scottish Government’s £10million investment in Changing Places toilets was initially announced in the Programme for Government 2021-2022 with a view to increasing the number of facilities in Scotland and support the development of mobile Changing Places toilets to improve accessibility at outdoor events and venues.  PAMIS will continue to liaise with and support the Scottish Government in the design and development of this funding stream. The team has been working across the country supporting the development over fifty new Changing Places toilets, answering enquiries, reviewing plans and providing support, training and guidance to venues. 

Updating the Changing Places Toilet Website

This year the consortium used dedicated funding secured in 2023 to update the Changing Places toilet website and make improvements to the online Changing Places toilet map. Feedback so far has been positive, and we hope to secure more funding and make further improvements in the future. We’ve also added some different categories onto the website map so you  can  distinguish the difference between the older build ones now too.

 ...And everything else!

Along with these events over the last year, work on the campaign has continued as usual. We’ve been continuing our relationships with our colleagues at Purple Tuesday and Changing Places campaigns around the world. Conversations are continuing with venues and organisations, and as always, our campaigners have been busy speaking to venues and persuading them to install Changing Places toilets and raising awareness.

Lastly, we've registered an amazing 460 new Changing Places toilets over the past year - that's a 50% increase on last year... and that's the IncLOOsivity we love to see!

Thank you to everyone for all that you do in supporting the campaign – here’s to a brilliant year, and another one ahead,

HAPPY CPAD 2024!