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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]
Campaign urges government to change its mind on the Bill
Media Release - For immediate release
Thursday 22 February
For media enquiries, copies of the Bill and accompanying briefing, contact: Jaine Barry, 020 7696 5603, [email protected]
Ministers urged to give their support to proposals for new rights to short breaks for families with severely disabled children
The Every Disabled Child Matters campaign is urging Ministers to change their minds and support the Disabled Children (Family Support) Bill.
Speaking on Radio 4's You and Yours programme yesterday (Wednesday 21 February), Department of Health Minister Ivan Lewis MP stated that the government could not support the Bill because it would place an 'uncosted commitment on local authorities. The Minister confirmed instead that specific government proposals would come forward on short breaks, 'in a matter of months', as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review.
Responding for the campaign, Dame Jo Williams DBE, Chief Executive of Mencap, comments: 'While we welcome the news that government is bringing forward their own proposals, families with disabled children are going to be angry and extremely disappointed to hear that the government is unwilling to support our Bill on the grounds of cost. This Bill is not uncosted - in fact, the government would control the costs of the Bill themselves, as they would set the level of short breaks that families receive. Providing a family with a break of one weekend a month will cost between £2,000 and £3,000 for each child. We think this is a small price to pay to give families the support they need to stay together and carry on caring for the children they love.
Jo Williams continues, 'we understand that Government will be cautious about costs. But the proper place to have these debates about the details of the Bill is once it reaches its Committee stage. We are urging Ministers to reconsider and support the Bill through its Second Reading, as a signal of the government's commitment to families with disabled children.'
The Bill has the support of 15,000 parents and professionals who have signed up as supporters of the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign, and 224 MPs from all parties have signed the Early Day Motion in support of the Bill.
The government's ongoing review of disabled children's services has been informed by the Parliamentary Hearings on Services for Disabled Children, which were led by MPs Tom Clarke and Joan Humble in 2006. The hearings found that short breaks were the number one priority for families with disabled children, and the report from the hearings recommended significant investment in short break services.
Official government figures show that only 6% of families with disabled children currently receive any sort of regular support service. A report from Mencap's Breaking Point campaign in 2006 found that 8 in 10 families with severely disabled children described themselves as at, or close to, breaking point. Of families receiving short breaks, 1 in 3 had experienced a cut in services in the last year.
-Ends-
For media enquiries and copies of the Disabled Children (Family Support) Bill and accompanying briefing, please contact Jaine Barry in the Mencap Press Office on: 0207 696 5603 or at [email protected]
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.
Contact a Family is the leading organisation supporting parents and carers with disabled children in the UK.
The Disabled Children (Family Support) Bill covers England and Wales. If it became law, it would:
- impose specific duties on local authorities and health agencies to provide short breaks for families who provide a substantial level of care on a regular basis.
- amend the recent Childcare Act to require local authorities to secure a sufficient supply of short breaks in their area.
- require the breaks offered to families to be of benefit for the child and their carers, to safeguard against low quality breaks
* Mencap’s 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
