Levelling the Playing Field: the childcare campaign for disabled children
Every Disabled Child Matters, Contact A Family and Family and Childcare Trust are leading the Levelling the Playing Field campaign to call for equal access to childcare for disabled children.
Disabled children have a right to enjoy the same early learning opportunities as non-disabled children, to help them fulfil their potential. Access to work is vitally important for many families with disabled children to avoid poverty, but too often parent carers (usually mothers) are forced to cut hours or give up careers due to childcare problems.
Levelling the Playing Field is campaigning for disabled children to be able to access childcare that helps them to progress, learn and make friends, and for their mums and dads to be able to work as much as they want.
We will do this by campaigning to make sure that:
- Disabled children can access free early education and childcare in the same way as other children
- Families with disabled children are supported financially to help them access high quality suitable childcare in the same way as other families
- Families with disabled children can access information and resources through the Local Offer to make choices about the childcare in their area that meets their individual needs.
Get involved!
We want to hear about your experiences of accessing the free early education offer (15hrs per week for 3 and 4 year olds and some 2 year olds).
Please take our parent survey – it will take about 10 minutes and will help us build a national picture of how many disabled children are missing out on their free early education entitlement, and why. The survey will remain open until 21 September 2015.
Campaign supporters
Levelling the Playing Field is supported by a coalition of charities including: 4Children, Barnardo’s, Challenging Behaviour Foundation, Down Syndrome Association, Early Education, Family Action, Family Fund, Include Me Too, Mencap, National Autistic Society, National Day Nursery Association, National Deaf Children’s Society, Professional Association of Childcare and Early Years, Pre-school Learning Alliance, Sense, Working Families.
The campaign follows an independent Parliamentary Inquiry into childcare for disabled children in 2014, which concluded that families with disabled children are being failed by childcare at every step.