First local authorities sign EDCM Charter

8 November 2006

Every local authority urged to make commitments to services for disabled children

We are delighted that six local authorities have now signed up to our Local Authority Charter to improve services for disabled children.

Local authorities who sign up to the charter pledge to deliver nine measures, including a key worker service, timely information and targets for services in local area agreements by 2008.

The six authorities that have signed up are Dudley, Enfield, Halton, Hertfordshire, Hull and Kingston upon Thames.

Jane Pitman, lead member for Hertfordshire, was quoted in Children Now magazine saying: "We signed up because it is needed, but also because it's a practical campaign - the targets are achievable if we try hard enough."

Pitman said that as a result of "being put on the spot" by the charter, the council plans to launch an audit on its current services to gauge where gaps are.

Janet Leach, development manager for children with learning difficulties and disabilities at Enfield, said the campaign had helped the council focus on work already under way. This included locating numbers of disabled children and improving consultation with them. "The charter places children right at the heart of all future planning of children's services," she said.

You can lobby your local authority and ask them to sign up to the campaign through the link below.