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c/o Council for Disabled Children
National Children's Bureau
8 Wakley Street
London EC1V 7QE
tel +44 (0)20 7843 6448
fax +44 (0)20 7843 6313
[email protected]
EDCM welcomes new childcare duties
1 April 2008
Today (1 April 2008) new duties come into force intended to ensure that families with disabled children can access affordable childcare that meets their children's needs. The new duties stem from the Childcare Act 2006, which states that local authorities should secure sufficient childcare to enable parents to work, with particular regard to childcare for families with disabled children.
Local authorities will also have a duty to provide information, advice and assistance to parents of children and young people up to the age of 20 on childcare and other services, particularly for the parents of disabled children.
EDCM welcomes these much needed new duties, and encourages parents and other supporters to ask their local authority what is being done to meet this duty as part of their campaigning to make disabled children matter locally.
Steve Broach, EDCM Campaign Manager comments:
'We know that families with disabled children consistently struggle to find childcare that meets their needs. The government wants work to be the route out of poverty for families, so it is right that they have put this new duty on local authorities and made childcare for families with disabled children a specific focus.'
'We look forward to the childcare pilots from Aiming High for Disabled Children demonstrating the best ways for local authorities to meet this duty. What we need now is action to put more money into families pockets to pay for specialist childcare where needed.'
EDCM's briefing Between a rock and a hard place outlines the difficulty families have in finding affordable and accessible childcare.
Find out more about the new duties under the Childcare Act from the government's Every Child Matters website.
More from EDCM
Download our briefing on childcare: Between a rock and a hard place
Download our guide for supporters on Making disabled children matter locally
News story: Boost for childcare funding
News story: Parents need more support to work
