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c/o Council for Disabled Children
National Children's Bureau
8 Wakley Street
London EC1V 7QE
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Bill launched to give families a right to a break
Media release: Embargoed until 00.01 21 November 2006
Contact: Georgie Webb, 020 7696 5524, [email protected]
Campaign calls for new law to give 100,000 families with disabled children a right to a break from caring
At the Every Disabled Child Matters parliamentary launch today (21 November), over 50 MPs are expected to back a new bill designed to give disabled children and their families the legal right to short break care. The Disabled Children’s Short Breaks Bill, if it became law, would ensure a specific duty is placed on Local Authorities and the NHS to provide appropriate short break care for 100,000 families with disabled children who provide a substantial level of ongoing care.
Jo Williams, Mencap’s chief executive and Every Disabled Child Matters spokesperson said: “At present the delivery of government’s strategy towards disabled children and their families is dire. Eighty per cent of families are reaching breaking point and still funding for short break services for disabled children are being cut. We need proper funding to ensure the system is fully transformed so that people can access short break care when and where they need it.”
The Disabled Children’s Short Breaks Bill follows on from an earlier Bill introduced by Ed Balls MP, now Economic Secretary at HM Treasury and a key supporter of the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign. The new Bill will amend the Children’s Act 1989, the Carers Act 1995 and the Childcare Act 2006 to make certain that the rights of disabled children to short break care are set out in law.
The campaign is calling for backbench MPs to support the Bill and to enter the forthcoming Private Member’s Bill ballot for the campaign, so that, if chosen in the ballot, they will have the opportunity to introduce the Bill into Parliament.
Francine Bates, Chief Executive of Contact a Family, comments, ‘The Every Disabled Child Matters campaign is being championed by MPs from across the political spectrum, including Labour MPs Tom Clarke and Joan Humble and opposition frontbenchers Jeremy Hunt MP and Annette Brookes MP. Given the amount of parliamentary support we have had for the campaign, and the fact that so many families across the country are desperate for a break, we are confident that we will get a large number of MPs offering to take up this Bill.’
The need for the Bill was highlighted by a recent Breaking Point survey by Mencap*, which found that 8 out of 10 carers of disabled children have felt close to, or reached, breaking point because of a lack of support. The same survey found that a third of families had experienced a reduction in the level of short break care they receive during the past year. Through an ongoing government review of services for disabled children, the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign is lobbying for a minimum spend of £150 million per year for the next three years, as a starting point to help transform short break services and provide value-for-money preventative support, rather than existing crisis management services.
The publication of the Disabled Children’s Short Breaks Bill is the centrepiece of the parliamentary launch of the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign, taking place at 4pm in the House of Commons. The event is hosted by Sylvia Heal MP and features presentations by Jo Williams and Prof. Sir Ian Kennedy in support of the campaign.
-Ends-
For media enquiries and embargoed copies of the Bill and accompanying briefing, please contact Georgie Webb in the Mencap Press Office on 020 7696 5524
Every Disabled Child Matters is a campaign by four organisations working with disabled children and their families: Contact a Family, Council for Disabled Children, Mencap and the Special Educational Consortium. It is a three-year campaign funded by a grant from the True Colours Trust, a Sainsbury’s family trust.
* The Breaking Point - families still need a break survey was carried out between May and July 2006. 353 families from six areas of England and in Northern Ireland took part. The 2006 survey followed up on themes and issues identified in a 2003 survey. The 2006 survey focused on the impact of lack of services and the quality of short break services. The report is available in its entirety at www.mencap.org.uk/breakingpoint .
