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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
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Better off - in work?
Welfare reform green paper must work for parents of disabled children
19 July 2007
EDCM is calling for the welfare reform green paper: In work, better off: next steps to full employment to deliver for families with disabled children.
The green paper, published yesterday (18th July), aims to move more people from unemployment into the labour market.
The proposals include a requirement that lone parents seek work when their youngest child reaches 12, and from 2010 once their youngest child reaches 7. It does however recognise that reforms need to meet ‘the particular needs of those with disabled children’ and invites views on how that can be achieved.
EDCM welcomes the government commitment that parents of disabled children will not miss out under the new proposals, but were are concerned that the exemption from the requirement for lone parents to work only applies to parents receiving Carers Allowance.
Jill Harrison, Director of External Affairs at Contact a Family, comments: ‘Carers Allowance is only payable to parents of disabled children who receive the care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for their child at the middle or higher rate. We know that many families miss out on DLA because they have not been told they are entitled to it. Therefore, the first step the government needs to take is to run a campaign to promote the uptake of DLA. However, there will be families who will not qualify for DLA but whose circumstances mean that they need to be exempted from the requirement to work and we will be calling on Ministers and officials to recognise this in their final proposals’.
EDCM has previously reported that employment rates for parents of disabled children are particularly low. Only 16% of mothers of disabled children work compared to over 60% of mothers generally. Despite many parents of disabled children wanting to work, barriers including a lack of accessible and affordable childcare prevent them from doing so.
Jill Harrison continues, ‘One quarter of all lone parents have a disabled child. Our research has shown that access to childcare is the biggest barrier for parents of disabled children to taking up work. We are pleased that Aiming High for Disabled Children commits £35 million to pilot accessible childcare but this will not meet the needs of all families with disabled children. Government also needs to increase the upper limit of eligible childcare costs under Working Tax Credits to reflect the additional costs of childcare for a disabled child.’
More from EDCM:
News story: MPs say - make benefits simpler!
News story: Link between disability and child poverty confirmed
News story: Disabled children miss out on key benefits
