Children and Families Bill represents a 'lost opportunity' for disabled children

Tuesday, 05 February 2013

Campaigners warn Government reform will create a 'two tier system of support'

The Every Disabled Child Matters (EDCM) campaign and Irwin Mitchell Solicitors have expressed concern that the Children and Families Bill, published by the Department for Education today (Tuesday, 05 February 2013), will fail to establish a joined up system of health and social care support for children with SEN, and will exclude disabled children from integrated support if they don't have identified educational needs.

Children with special educational needs and disabled children face significant barriers to getting the support they need from health and social care services. In order to address this, the Government proposed SEN and disability reform measures, and commissioned local areas as pathfinders to improve support for children with SEN and disabilities.

However, the Bill published today only applies to children and young people with SEN - and explicitly excludes disabled children without SEN. This means that many children with health needs such as cancer may not benefit from a simplified system of support.

Irwin Mitchell Solicitors said: "Although the draft Bill proposes modest additional obligations in relation to the integration of education, health and care services for children with special educational needs, it establishes no new duties on any public bodies to actually provide health or care services to disabled children. This is, in our view, the major shortcoming in the draft legislation."

Laura Courtney, EDCM Campaign Manager said: "This is a deeply disappointing lost opportunity. We cannot understand why the Government is so set on excluding the disabled children who do nothave SEN, but need health and care support, from the system proposed in the draft Bill - e.g. a local offer, joined up services, etc.  These children will be accessing the same services within health and social care, commissioned through the same processes as those with SEN.  We are concerned that if commissioners are required to consider their needs separately, a two tier system of support will be created, in which disabled children without SEN risk being marginalized and given a lower priority. We will be calling on MPs and Peers who are supportive of disabled children to ask the Government to amend the Bill as it goes through Parliament."