New polling: 78% say improved care should come before assisted suicide – echoing Burnham’s position
New polling has been carried out by British Polling Council member, Whitestone Insight, for the disability rights group Not Dead Yet UK, surveying 2,071 UK adults over 28-31 August.
Respondents were explicitly asked to consider possible impacts “whether or not you support assisted suicide in principle”.
The polling shows 78% agree Parliament should prioritise improving access to adequate care for disabled people before introducing assisted suicide, compared with 67% when a similar question was asked in June 2025. Only 11% disagree. Among people polled with a disability or health condition, this rises to 81%.
The finding closely reflects Andy Burnham’s position that Parliament should not consider making assisted suicide legal until problems with palliative and social care funding have been addressed - and is especially significant given the new warnings relating to the potential impact of the Bill on disabled people that the Government released in their impact assessments (further details are below).
Additionally, there is a very coherent cluster of findings around real-world pressure:
76% recognise the possibility of coercion or pressure,
76% recognise the pressure arising from feeling a burden, and
69% think inadequate NHS/social care may make disabled and older people more likely to seek assisted suicide.
Full polling figures
Whole population | Respondents with disability or health condition |
78% agree Parliament should prioritise improving access to adequate care for disabled people before introducing assisted suicide. Only 11% disagree.
(It is worth noting that this is up from 67% when a similar question was asked in June 2025 - data tables for that poll are attached).
| This rises to 81% for respondents disclosing disability or health conditions
|
69% agree disabled and older people who struggle to access the support they need to live well, given the current state of NHS and social care funding, may be more likely to seek assisted suicide. Only 14% disagree.
| This rises to 72% for respondents disclosing disability or health conditions
|
85% agree the views of disabled people and the groups representing their interests should be properly taken into account in the debate over whether to introduce assisted suicide. Only 6% disagree.
| This rises to 90% for respondents disclosing disability or health conditions
|
76% agree some people may feel a responsibility to opt for an assisted death if they feel they are a burden on family, friends or society. Only 12% disagree.
| This rises to 79% for respondents disclosing disability or health conditions
|
76% agree some people may be coerced or pressured into assisted suicide by others who do not have their best interests at heart. Only 12% disagree.
| This rises to 80% for respondents disclosing disability or health conditions |
63% agree disabled people living in poverty and facing benefit cuts may seek assisted suicide instead of continuing to struggle financially. Only 19% disagree. | This rises to 70% for respondents disclosing disability or health conditions |
Mike Smith, spokesperson for Not Dead Yet UK, former Commissioner at the Equality and Human Rights Commission and former Chair of its Disability Committee, said:
“Nearly four in five people say we need to sort out palliative care, social care and the support disabled people rely on before Parliament introduces assisted suicide. Andy Burnham was right.
“This Bill will not operate in some perfect world where everybody already gets the help they need. Up to 1.5 million working-age disabled people in England may be missing out on social care or other support they could be eligible for, and nearly one in three people who need palliative care are missing out too.
“MPs have to consider the environment and reality this law would be introduced into. If somebody has spent months fighting for a care package, cannot get the help they need to live independently, is struggling financially or feels their family cannot cope, those things matter if they are to make a balanced decision about ending their life.
“Importantly, people with lived experience are even more more concerned about the key risks arising from relying on social care or others, or living in poverty. For example, 70% of people with a disability or health condition think financial hardship could influence a decision to seek assisted suicide compared with 60% of those without, and significantly more strongly agree. They understand how the reality of disability shapes the choices people have.“The Government’s own assessment now recognises that neglect, poverty, difficult living conditions and a lack of appropriate support can create pressure on disabled people.
“MPs must deal with those failures before changing the law. A choice between inadequate support and death is not a meaningful choice. Fear of disability and loss of control is real, but assisted suicide is the wrong solution. Real choice requires real support first.”
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Crossbench peer and Paralympian, said:
“You cannot say somebody has a genuine choice if an assisted death is available but the care and support they need to live is not.
“The public understands that. More than three quarters think people may be pressured or may come to feel responsible for choosing an assisted death because they are a burden.
“A safeguard written into a Bill cannot produce a missing care worker, restore a care package or reopen a hospice bed. MPs need to judge this legislation against the health and social care system people actually have, not the one we would like them to have.
“We need to sort out social care and palliative care first. Until people can get the support they need, too many will not have a real choice.”
Baroness Jane Campbell of Surbiton, Crossbench peer and founder of Not Dead Yet UK, said:
“Good social care is what gives many disabled people independence, choice and control over our lives. It allows us to get out of bed, leave the house, work, see our friends and live our lives on our own terms.
“When that support is inadequate or disappears, our choices shrink. That is why you cannot separate a debate about assisted dying from the state of social care and the reality disabled people are living in.
“Pressure is not always somebody explicitly telling you that you should die. It can grow slowly when you cannot get adequate care, your family is exhausted, money is tight and you begin to feel that your needs are too much for the people around you.
“Ninety per cent of people polled who declared disability or a health condition say disabled people and our organisations should be properly heard. Parliament should listen and make sure people have the support they need to live before changing the law.”
If you have any queries in relation to this polling, including requests from journalists for the underlying data tables, please contact hello@notdeadyetuk.org
The survey results in context
Nearly eight in ten support Burnham’s position that care should be improved before assisted suicide is introduced
● The polling suggests there is overwhelming public support for the central argument Andy Burnham has made in the assisted-dying debate: that problems in palliative care and social care need to be dealt with before Parliament introduces assisted suicide.
● Whitestone Insight surveyed 2,071 UK adults between 28 and 31 August for Not Dead Yet UK, with 78% agreeing Parliament should prioritise improving access to adequate care for disabled people before introducing assisted suicide. Only 11% disagreed.
● It is worth noting that this is up from 67% when a similar question was asked in June 2025 - data tables for that poll are attached. More people support the same position that Andy Burnham has taken following his comments outlining his position being extensively covered in the media.
There is a substantial gap between the care disabled people need and the care many actually receive
Polling questions that are relevant to the below: This is important context for the 78% finding and the need to improve care before Parliament considers whether to legalise assisted suicide.
● Healthwatch England estimates that up to 1.5 million working-age disabled adults in England could be eligible for social care or other support but are not receiving it.
○ Its representative survey of 1,504 disabled adults found 28% had never accessed care despite identifying themselves as potentially eligible. At the same time, 78% of those who did receive social care said it helped them live the life they wanted. Healthwatch England, “Missing millions”
○ The latest official outcomes data shows gaps even among people already receiving long-term social care in England. In 2024/25, 31.2% said their needs around how they spend their time were only partially met or unmet, 23% said the same about social contact and 22.7% about control over their daily lives. Department of Health and Social Care social care outcomes data
The Government’s new impact assessments now warn explicitly about structural pressure on disabled people
Polling questions that are relevant to the below: 76% agree some people may feel a responsibility to opt for an assisted death if they feel they are a burden on family, friends or society + 76% agree some people may be coerced or pressured into assisted suicide by others who do not have their best interests at heart.
● The Government released three documents concerning Lauren Edwards revived assisted suicide Bill: an impact assessment, equality impact assessment and ECHR memorandum. MPs will be voting on this Bill at Second Reading on Friday 11 September.
● “The new Equality Impact Assessment discusses “neglect, poverty and difficult living conditions” in its section on ‘Coercion and pressure’, identifying these as factors that may place pressure on disabled people who are considering assisted suicide.”
○ The Government says disabled people may be more susceptible to feeling like a burden and that pressure “is not necessarily felt or applied by other people”.
○ It says disabled people may feel subtle pressure because of attitudinal barriers or because appropriate alternative services and support, including palliative care, are unavailable.
○ It expressly identifies “neglect, poverty and difficult living conditions” as possible structural pressures.
○ It also records that disabled people are twice as likely as non-disabled people to experience domestic abuse, including coercive behaviour.
○ (2026 Equality Impact Assessment, p. 9, “Coercion and pressure”; compare 2025 Equality Impact Assessment, p. 8, “Coercion and pressure”).
● Higher numbers of people with learning disabilities, mental disorder or autism are projected to end their lives
○ By Year 10, as many as 156 people who require an independent advocate could die by assisted suicide each year, compared with 114 in the 2025 assessment. This category includes people with a learning disability, mental disorder or autism, as well as those who have substantial difficulty understanding the assisted-suicide process or communicating their wishes. The assessment indicates that the number could be higher.
○ The revised impact assessment also warns that poverty, reduced access to healthcare, poorer-quality care and domestic abuse may have a disproportionate effect on people from ethnic-minority backgrounds, result in disproportionate numbers of people from ethnic-minority backgrounds choosing assisted death to excape abuse or avoid financial hardship.
○ (2026 Equality Impact Assessment, p. 9, “Coercion and pressure”; compare 2025 Equality Impact Assessment, p. 8, “Coercion and pressure”).
● The Government’s central estimate of assisted deaths in Year 10 has risen by 60%, from 2,183 to 3,502 a year. (2026 Impact Assessment, p. 32, para. 81)
○ This would amount to almost ten assisted suicide deaths every day. Under the Impact assessment's high scenario, it has risen from 4,559 to 6,257 deaths a year, over 17 every day.
■ The report makes clear that even its 6,257 high scenario is not a definitive upper limit. (2026 Impact Assessment, p. 31, para. 77)
■ A new sensitivity analysis produces 9,810 assisted deaths in England and Wales in Year 10 if New Zealand’s actual and projected assisted-death rates are applied here. (2026 Impact Assessment, p. 39, Table 11)
■ The Government has changed the methodology behind its estimates after concluding there is “limited evidence” to support an assumption that growth in assisted deaths levels off after five years. (2026 Impact Assessment, pp. 28–30, paras. 64–69)
Key data regarding disabled people and poverty
Polling questions that are relevant to the below: 63% agree that disabled people living in poverty and facing benefit cuts may seek assisted suicide instead of continuing to struggle financially. Among disabled people, that rises to 70%.
● The latest Joseph Rowntree Foundation figures show that 28% of disabled people live in poverty, eight percentage points above the rate for non-disabled people. Among working-age adults, the gap is particularly large: 33% of disabled working-age adults are in poverty compared with 17% of non-disabled working-age adults. Joseph Rowntree Foundation disability and poverty data
Disabled people call on Parliament to fix care first
Polling questions that are relevant to the below: 85% agree the views of disabled people and the groups representing their interests should be properly taken into account in the debate over whether to introduce assisted suicide. Only 6% disagree.
● That concern is being voiced directly by disabled people themselves. On 14 August, a large group of disabled and terminally ill people and their allies wrote to Burnham and MPs calling for the Bill to be halted until disabled and terminally ill people have much better support to live. Signatories include Liz Carr, Baroness Jane Campbell, Rosie Jones, Sophie Morgan, Disability Rights UK chief executive Kamran Mallick and Inclusion London chief executive Tracey Lazard.
● Their letter says the safe response to suffering is to reform social and palliative care before introducing assisted suicide and argues that people cannot have genuine autonomy over dying while lacking basic choice over getting out of bed, eating, washing, leaving the house or managing pain. Full Assist Us To Live open letter
● Jane Campbell has made essentially the same argument in the past. Writing about her own experience, she has described good social care as what enables her to live independently and warned that without it her own life could become intolerable. More recently, she has argued that high-quality health, social and palliative care remains in short supply. Jane Campbell: “Disabled people need more help to live, not to die”
● That is closely reflected in another finding from the new poll: 69% agree that disabled and older people who struggle to get the support they need to live well, given the current state of NHS and social care funding, may be more likely to seek assisted suicide. Only 14% disagree. Among the disability subgroup, 72% agree
Key details covering how palliative care is also under severe pressure
● Hospice UK says nearly one in three people who need palliative care currently miss out on the support they need. Hospice UK, August 2026
● Its 14 August analysis found that hospices in England ended the last financial year with a collective deficit of more than £70 million, which is more than double the previous year. Almost 60% of these hospices were making or considering reductions, while at least 33 hospices already had made significant cuts. At the same time specialist community hospice visits had fallen by 150,000, and 380 hospice beds were out of use. Hospice UK’s full analysis
● Separate research cited by Hospice UK estimates that around 170,000 people in England each year, nearly one in three people who die, do so without adequate care and support. Hospice UK on the palliative-care gap
○ Hospice UK itself welcomed Burnham’s call to address palliative care as a priority, while arguing that this must be backed by sustainable funding.
