Category: Other

Earlier today, the government launched its Green Paper on disability reform “Pathways to Work”, setting out plans to cut spending on disability benefits by around £5 billion.

What plans does the Green Paper set out?

The Green Paper is wide-ranging, but it includes plans to:

• Scrap the work capability assessment. Any extra financial support for health conditions in Universal Credit will instead be solely based on whether that disabled person qualifies for Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
• Change the PIP rules to make it harder for some groups of disabled people to qualify for the daily living component. In addition to scoring sufficient points (i.e. eight points), claimants will need to meet an additional test of scoring at least four points in any one daily living activity.
• Increase the standard personal allowance paid under Universal Credit by £7 per week by 2026/27. Cut the health payment (i.e. the current limited capability for work related activity component) by £47 per week for new claimants.
• Introduce a new disability payment into Universal Credit from 2026 for those on the new lower rate of the health payment, but only where they are someone who has “the most severe, life-long health conditions, who have no prospect of improvement and will never be able to work”.
• Freeze the rate at which the limited capability for work related activity element is paid for existing claimants until 2029/30.
• Introduce a work trial guarantee so that no one’s disability benefits will be reassessed as a direct result of them moving into work.
• Increase the number of face-to-face rather than telephone PIP assessments.
• Provide significant additional support to help disabled people move into work.

Green Paper announces further consultations

The Green Paper also consults on proposals to :

• Prevent young people from being able to access an additional health element within their Universal Credit until they reach the age of 22.
• Allow Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to continue to the age of 18 rather than 16. We welcome this consultation, which is something Contact has campaigned on and families want.
• Scrap contributory Employment and Support Allowance (and contribution-based Job Seeker’s Allowance). Replace it with a new time-limited Unemployment Insurance contributory benefit.

Who do these changes affect?

The focus on the Green Paper is mainly on benefits for disabled adults. DLA is unaffected other than proposals to increase the upper age limit to 18.

However, families with young disabled adults getting PIP or Universal Credit will be very concerned about how the Green Paper will impact on their disabled son or daughter.

What is Contact’s view?

Responding to the Green Paper, Anna Bird, Contact CEO, says:

“The cuts to disability benefits announced by the government today are worse than we feared. These significant changes will undoubtedly have a devastating impact on many of the families we support who are already experiencing poverty and struggling to pay for the basics – heating, housing, disability aids and therapies.

“The safety net for families with disabled young adults was already seriously strained and now feels like it has been ripped away.”

Derek Sinclair from Contact’s Family Finance Team says:

“The proposed changes to PIP criteria will undoubtedly see many vulnerable young disabled people lose entitlement to this crucial benefit. Added to this, swingeing cuts to the limited capability for work related activity component for new claimants will see many more families with a disabled young person forced into poverty in the future.

“We are also particularly worried about proposals to limit this extra health related Universal Credit payment to young people aged 22 and above.”

Our podcast, The helpful podcast for families with disabled children, is back with a new episode all about moving onto secondary school.

We’re relaunching our podcast with a few pilot episodes, featuring interviews and guest contributions and diving deeper into the issues we know families care about.

Helping your disabled child move onto secondary school

Our first episode is all about helping your disabled child move onto secondary school.

We speak to Caroline Klage, brain injury solicitor and parent to three neurodiverse children, who shares her strategies and top tips for preparing for the move.

We also hear from Bridie from our helpline team, who explains what national offer day is in England and Wales and what options you have when you’ve been offered a school place. This bit is the podcast is for children without education, health and care (ehc) plans or individual development plans only.

Where can I listen?

You can subscribe to our podcast on your platform of choice:

Visit the following links to find us:

Apple Podcasts/iTunes

Google Podcasts

Spotify

Overcast

Pocket Casts

RadioPublic

Or visit our Acast podcast homepage.

You can also find our podcast episodes on our Youtube channel, or listen below.

Moving on up

Caroline, a guest in our latest podcast episode, has also written a blog for us on her strategies for preparing for the move to the next stage of your child’s education.

Read Caroline’s blog on transition to secondary school.

From this April, the earnings limit for Carer’s Allowance and the Carer Support Payment in Scotland will be increasing to £196 per week, the largest increase in the earnings limit since the benefit began. As a result, it may become possible for some carers to qualify whose earnings were too high in the past.

However, the Carer’s Allowance rules can be confusing to understand. That’s why we are inviting you to ask our parent advisers any questions you may have about this important benefit at a special Q&A session focusing on Carers Allowance, the Scottish Carer Support Payment and the carer element of Universal Credit.

This session will take place on Thursday 20th March between 10am – 11.30am on in our private (closed) Facebook group.

If you want to know more about whether you qualify for one of these carers benefits or how they interact with one another – you can put your questions to our team on 20th March when they’ll be waiting to answer your questions.

Can’t make Thursday 20th?

We have lots of information about Carers Allowance and other benefits for carers in our benefits section.

Contact is calling for Universal Credit fixes, social energy tariffs and investment in disabled children’s services ahead of the chancellor’s spring spending review.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will set out spending plans on 26 March. Ahead of this, the treasury consulted interest groups, individuals, Members of Parliament and representative bodies on policy and spending ideas. Contact has submitted ways we want to see the government do more for families with disabled children.

Fix Universal Credit

Families with a disabled child are often at greater risk of being worse off under the benefit than other households. This is chiefly because additional Universal Credit amounts for disabled children are often lower than under the legacy benefits they are replacing.

We have highlighted a number of other ways that families with disabled children are losing out under Universal Credit.

Unlock Child Trust Funds

Many disabled young people who lack mental capacity are unable to access savings in their Child Trust Funds/Junior ISA.

This affects 80,000 disabled young people, and fixing this would release £210 million of savings.

If the government supported the industry initiative and extended the authority of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Appointee scheme, this issue could be efficiently resolved.

Work with energy companies to introduce discounted tariffs

Many families Contact supports use electrical medical equipment such as oxygen concentrators, ventilators, ceiling hoists and feeding pumps to keep their children alive and healthy. As energy prices soar, more and more families are struggling to pay their energy bills.

We are also calling on the government to create a national energy assistance payment to replace or supplement the inconsistent access to local NHS medical grants and reimbursement schemes.

Investment in support for disabled children through schools, social care and health

Research by Scope and the Disabled Children’s Partnership in 2021 found that the funding gap for disabled children’s health and social care had continued to increase to £2.1 billion. That’s an increase of over £500 million since our last calculation in 2016/17.

Addressing this funding gap would support disabled children and their families to get services and support that are not currently being delivered consistently across local areas, such as respite care, therapies, rehabilitation support, provision of medicines and in-home support.

Read our full submission

Download our full submission to the spending review consultation.

This advice applies in England only.

The Department of Education (DfE) has opened a number of consultations for parents, carers and professionals to share their views on proposed changes.

The school accountability reform consultation is asking for feedback on changes to how schools are held accountable. It includes a new digital service offering a “one-stop shop” providing parents with information about schools. It applies to state schools in England.

Alongside this, Ofsted is consulting on proposals to improve education inspections. These proposals include new report cards to provide more detailed information on provider performance than current Ofsted reports. The proposals would apply to early years settings, state schools, independent schools and further education settings.

Finally, the DfE is also consulting on proposed changes to the use of reasonable force and other restrictive interventions guidance for England.

All these consultations close towards the end of April 2025.

Your View on school absence

In a recent interview, Ofsted boss Sir Martyn Oliver explained why he thinks persistent absent rates are soaring in schools. Oliver cited poor mental health, anxiety and depression, alongside lack of funding for nurses and education psychologists. But he also suggested that parents working from home has embedded a cultural of absenteeism among schoolchildren.

We think it’s important that those in positions of influence hear from parent carers how messages like this can sound. So we’ll be sharing more parent carer voices in our news stories, in Your View.

Kate* is an admin assistant and mum to Alex* who is 11 and autistic. Alex has struggled to attend his mainstream school for the past two years due to overwhelming anxiety.

Kate says:

“I would love nothing more than to see Alex happy and settled in school, rather than the current roller coaster of whether he will make it in that day. And I am yet to meet a WFH parent who would rather keep their child home than send them to school each day!

“In my case, I am trying to hold down my job, whilst trying to support my child’s mental health and begging for help for him. I am already under pressure from the school who say that his attendance isn’t good enough, and now I feel like I’m being shamed for working from home.

“To me, blaming hard working parents and struggling children for low attendance is an easy alternative to looking for a solution”. 

*names changed for confidentiality 

This advice applies in England only.

Our Policy Officer highlights harmful media framing around school transport for disabled children.

The cost of school transport for disabled children is becoming a familiar headline. More and more councils are saying they find the cost of providing transport unaffordable.

An article in the Guardian this weekend outlines some of the challenges councils face with the cost of services, including school transport. And it poses a cost comparison between school transport and road maintenance.

School transport or fixing roads? 

We think the important question is how much councils can actually meet their statutory duty to provide appropriate school transport to disabled children and young people. There is no value in an economic comparison between school transport and highways maintenance. Or any other local service for that matter.  

We understand the financial pressure councils face. But it is NOT the answer to cut an essential service like special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) school transport, just because it seems expensive. Disabled children and young people are not an expensive exception to the rule. They have a right to appropriate support based on need, not money.

The real cost of school transport

At Contact, we know that school transport can be the glue that holds things together for families. The difference between coping and crisis.

We have heard of councils providing a bus pass for a disabled child unable to use public transport. Or a mileage budget that is not even close to covering the family’s cost. We know that where school transport is not provided to disabled children, the real cost to the family can be huge, both financially and practically. Young people are missing out on essential education and parent carers are experiencing more stress, having to give up work or reduce their hours. Just to get their child to school or college.

What we are doing

We are running a school transport project and will be working more over the next few months to raise the issues and campaign for change.

If you need advice around school transport, visit our Transport in England web pages or contact our helpline.

And if you want to tell us something about your school or college transport, get in touch with our policy lead [email protected].

We also answer your questions we weren’t able to get to in the session.

Last week our Family Finance Team ran a webinar looking at rules that determine which young people in education can claim Universal Credit.

The webinar is now available to watch on Contact’s YouTube channel. You’ll also be able to download the powerpoint presentation accompanying the webinar – see the description notes.

Your questions answered

The webinar was popular, with almost 50 parent carers in attendance. Our advisers were asked more questions than they were able to answer during the session.

We have answered the questions we weren’t able to address on the day below, with some similar questions merged into a single common enquiry.

My child will be moving from school to a 6th form college in September. However, he doesn’t turn 16 until July. When can he claim Universal Credit?

The earliest date that it is possible to claim Universal Credit or make a ‘credits only’ claim for new style ESA is a child’s 16th birthday.

Because your child is in full-time non-advanced education, the only way that he will be able to get Universal Credit is if he establishes a limited capability for work before he starts his new course. You can make a ‘credits only’ claim for new style ESA as soon as he turns 16 and hope that you get a decision back before his new course starts.

However, there is a risk that he will not get a decision back in time. If he doesn’t get a decision back on his capability for work until after he has started his new course, he will not be exempt from the restrictions on claims by students and will be refused Universal Credit.

If you are lucky and a decision is turned around quickly before he starts his new course, you will have the option of helping him claim Universal Credit as a young adult. However, you need to remember that if he gets Universal Credit in his own right, this will bring to an end any benefits you receive for him as a dependent child as well as any child support payments you get.

Will someone who is on a level 3 Apprenticeship be classed as receiving education?

In most cases, someone who is an apprentice will have a contract of employment. This means that they are treated as an employee and not as someone who is in education. If your child is on an apprenticeship and does not have a contract of employment, then the situation will be more complex. You should call our helpline for individual advice if this applies to you.

My 18yr old daughter studies one A-level via an EOTAS package at home. This involves six hours a week. Do I need to establish a limited capability for work before she can claim Universal Credit.

As your daughter’s course involves fewer than 12 hours’ study per week, I assume that you are not receiving any payments for her as a dependent child such as Child Benefit, Universal Credit child amounts or any child support.

If you are getting any of these payments, please call our free helpline to discuss your case in more detail. 


Assuming no such payments are being made then you should be looking at making a claim for Universal Credit for her in her own right. Because she is a part-time student, she does not necessarily need to establish a limited capability for work before she claims Universal Credit. If she claims now, she should be paid Universal Credit under the normal rules so long as the DWP do not argue that her course is not compatible with any work-related requirements attached to her claim.

But if they do argue that her course and claim are incompatible and refused her Universal Credit, you should lodge a ’credits only’ claim for new style ESA. If she establishes a limited capability for work and work related activity, you should then lodge a second claim for Universal Credit which should definitely be successful.

How do we find out how much my child could potentially get under Universal Credit?

As Universal Credit is means-tested the amount paid to a child depends on their other income and what capital they have – if any. If a child has capital that is less than £6,000 and no other income that is taken into account (PIP and other disability benefits like the Scottish Adult Disability Payment are ignored) they would normally start off with a Universal Credit payment of £311.68 per month.

However, an extra £416.19 pcm can be added to that (a payment known as the LCWRA element) once they have established a limited capability for work and work related activity.

If my young person gets Universal Credit, will this affect their social care support and funding?

If your child is aged 18 or over and receiving a package of social care, then getting Universal Credit is likely to lead to them being asked to make a contribution towards the costs of their care. Most local authorities charge adults for care services. They are allowed to take Universal Credit into account as income for charging purposes.

My son is 18 and is on my Universal Credit claim. Can I still make a credits only claim for new style ESA for him ready for when he is 19?

Yes this is definitely a good idea. Establishing a limited capability for work well in advance is always sensible and because you are making a ‘credits only’ claim this will not interfere with your child benefit or UC child payments you get in the meantime. Once the Universal Credit payments you get for him as a dependent child stop on 31 Aug after his 19th birthday, you will then be able to claim Universal Credit for him as a young person instead. So long as he has established limited capability for work by that point he should be able to get Universal Credit despite still being in education. 


My daughter is 17 and in full time non-advanced education she has no savings, what is she entitled to claim please?

Because your daughter is in full time non advanced education and has not yet reached the Sept after her 19th birthday, she is not going to be eligible to get Universal Credit on her current course. We would recommend that you make a ‘credits only’ claim for new style ESA at the earliest point. If she established a limited capability for work this will help her qualify for Universal Credit in the future if she either changes course or stays in her existing course beyond the August after her 19th birthday. In the meantime, she cannot claim Universal Credit for herself but you can continue to get Child Benefit instead and – if your income is low enough – Universal Credit payments for her as a dependent child.

I made a credits only claim for my 18 yr old in September.  She turned 19 in December and comes off my Universal Credit claim this Summer.  I’ve still had no letter back from my ESA claim nor a work capability assessment form sent out.  I have chased the DWP but nothing has been done yet.

The average wait for a decision on a ‘credits only’ claim is around 3-4 months. It is worrying that you have not even been sent a work capability assessment questionnaire yet. You should approach a local advice service such as a CAB to see if they will help you to lodge a complaint about the delays you have experienced in the processing of your child’s application.

My child has already established a limited capability for work via a credits only claim for new style ESA. When does this run out? is there a time limit on it?

When a decision is made that a young person has LCW or LCWRA there is no time limit on this decision. They continue to have this status indefinitely. They will only stop being treated as having LCW or LCWRA if they are put back through a new work capability assessment by the DWP and are found fit to work.

You mentioned that it is left to a work coach to decide whether or not to switch off work related conditions. Do they follow any guidelines or is it just up to an individual work coach?

As far as we are aware there are no specific guidelines on this and it is left to the individual work coach to decide what work related conditions are appropriate in light of the individual young person’s disability and the need to make reasonable adjustments. Where work conditions have been applied that you believe to be unreasonable it would be worth speaking to an independent benefits adviser about challenging the level of work conditionality attached to a young person’s claim.

My 16 year old has an EHC plan and receives full time education at home via an EOTAS package. They are not able to work because of their difficulties. Can they claim Universal Credit and will the DWP expect them to be looking for working whilst their application is in process?

Assuming that your home education package has been approved by the DWP then your child will be treated as in full time non-advanced education. This would mean that they are a qualifying young person for benefits purposes and will not be able to ger Universal Credit as they did not establish a limited capability for work prior to their education starting. However, it would be a good idea to lodge a ‘credits only’ claim for new style ESA. Because no ESA will actually be in payment they will not be required to look for work while awaiting the outcome of their work capability assessment.

When does Child Benefit normally stop?

Child Benefit is automatically paid until the 31st August after a child’s 16th birthday. It can then continue until a child’s 19th birthday so long as they remain in full-time non-advanced education. This can be extended further to the day before your child’s 20th birthday if they remain on a full time non-advanced course that they had started or were enrolled on or accepted onto prior to turning 19. However please note that if your son or daughter starts to receive Universal Credit in their own right as a young adult, Child Benefit – and any other benefits you get for them as a dependent child such as Universal Credit child payments – will stop immediately.

I’m still a bit confused. Can a young person who is 16 and has an EHCP claim UC/ESA?

A young person in education cannot get Universal Credit simply because they have an EHCP. If their course is full-time they will be refused Universal Credit as someone who is ‘receiving education’ – unless they are in one of the groups of students who are exempt from the student restrictions (i.e. without parental support). They are not exempt simply because they are disabled. For this to apply they would need to not only be on a disability benefit but also have established a limited capability for work before they started their current course.

If their course is part-time (and they have passed the 31 August after their 16th birthday) they could claim Universal Credit. However, their chances of being awarded Universal Credit would depend on the extent that their work coach is willing to switch off work related conditions.

There is nothing preventing a 16 year old with an EHCP from making a credits only claim for new style ESA. This will not lead to any benefit payments as your child will not have sufficient national insurance contributions to qualify for ESA itself. However, it will force the DWP to carry out a work capability assessment and make a decision on their capability for work. This may in turn help with a future claim for Universal Credit.

What happens if my child isn’t able to attend a work capability assessment due to their disabilities?

The DWP need to decide how an assessment should be carried out in each individual case. However, at the moment the majority are carried out without any face-to-face assessment. The vast bulk are currently based on the paper evidence alongside a telephone assessment. Around 12% are based on paper evidence alone and only around 10% involve a face-to-face consultation with a health professional.

Today, Friday 28 February, is Rare Disease Day, raising awareness and generating change for the 300 million people worldwide living with a rare disease, their families and carers.

There are more than 6,000 known rare conditions, and there are thought to be many more yet to be discovered. Doctors rarely see children with these conditions, making it harder to recognise them.

What support is there for me?

If your child has a rare condition, it can sometimes be a harder to get the information you need. But there is plenty of advice to be found online and from other parents. And there are things you can do to make sure you’re getting the right support for your family.

That’s why we’ve recently updated our parent guide, “Living without a diagnosis“. This booklet explains why it can be challenging getting a diagnosis if your child has a rare condition. It also looks at what support your child is eligible for regardless of whether they have a diagnosis or not. We also publish a similar guide, “Living with a rare condition“.

You can also visit our dedicated webpage on rare conditions or browse our A-Z medical conditions.

Other great sources of support for rare conditions are Genetic Alliance UK, and SWAN UK (Syndromes Without A Name).

“A 10/10 experience we’ll never forget”

One family living with a rare condition we’ve supported is Emma and her two boys. Leo, aged 10, has the rare genetic condition KPTN – there are only 50 known cases worldwide. He is a wheelchair user, has severe epilepsy and global developmental delay. They live in Liverpool.  

Emma said:

“I used Contact’s Listening Ear service when at a low ebb. Following a new diagnosis for my disabled son, Leo, I was also struggling financially and housing wise. I found it absolutely invaluable to receive the advice and empathy from a fellow parent carer who had already walked the same path that I was just embarking upon.

“Contact put me in touch with a journalist from a national newspaper regarding the housing crisis and its impact on disabled children. At this time I was paying a very high rent, my wheelchair-using son was sleeping in the dining room and I was having to carry a large six year old up a spiral staircase to use the bathroom. The landlord had also given me notice to leave as he wished to cash in.

“Just two months later I finally got the call and was offered a fantastic adapted property. Even if the article was not the reason, I felt empowered to have at least done something and to raise awareness of families like mine.

“Contact put my family forward for the Make-A-Wish Foundation country hotel Disney experience weekend, and it was absolutely wonderful! A 10/10 in every way for every member of my little family, and an experience that we’ll all, especially my disabled child, never forget.” 

We know that climate change is likely to disproportionately impact already-vulnerable groups. For families with disabled children, this might be through rising energy costs for life-changing equipment or extra heating needs. Or it might be negative impacts on health conditions of wetter and less predictable periods of weather.

Contact is working in partnership with Hope for the Future, Rowanbank, and the London School of Economics, on a National Lottery-funded project. This groundbreaking project will for the first time be looking at ways to empower families with disabled children to have a voice in climate and nature issues.

In order for this project to have the most impact, it’s crucial that we co-create this project with parents themselves.

What’s involved?

We’ve invited families to take part in a one-hour online interview or a ninety-minute focus group session with student researchers from the London School of Economics.

The researchers will discuss experiences of parents of a disabled child and their interests in a changing climate, including:

• Worries about the future of the planet and anything they’re already doing/would like to do to combat these worries.
• What kinds of change they’d most like to see in relation to the climate and nature crises.
• How capable they feel of contributing to this change.

Thank you for your interest

Thank you to everyone who expressed an interest in taking part. We filled our interview and focus group slots soon after we emailed earlier this week.

Your thoughts and experiences will help us shape a project that will support thousands of families to make a real difference on rising energy costs and for climate change.

It’s vital that the voices of parent carers are heard loud and clear by politicians, and a key part of this is understanding the barriers you face to taking action.

There will be other opportunities to take part so if you haven’t already done, so please join our mailing list.

The rules around getting Universal Credit while in education are very complicated. As a result of them, most students are prevented from getting Universal Credit. 

However, there are some groups of students who are able to get Universal Credit. This includes some young disabled people in education.  

Join our Zoom webinar

Join us next Thursday for a parent webinar for families in England, Wales and Scotland, looking at the Universal Credit rules for young disabled people in education.  

We are inviting parents to join us for a special webinar via Zoom on Thursday 27^th February between 10 and 11.30am. We’ll be looking in detail at which young disabled people in education can get Universal Credit. 

The webinar will cover:

• The rules which prevent most students from getting Universal Credit.

• Which groups of disabled young people are exempt from the normal restrictions on students and able to get Universal Credit despite being in education.

• What a ‘credits only’ claim for new style Employment and Support Allowance is – and how making such a claim in advance can improve your child’s chances of getting Universal Credit while in education.  

This webinar will be presented by benefits advisers from Contact’s Family Finance team. To find out more about this webinar and to sign up, visit our Eventbrite page.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

New to webinars?

A webinar is a presentation live on the internet. You will be able to hear the presentation live, follow the slides and submit questions for the presenters to answer. You will need a home computer, laptop, tablet or smart phone. 

Can’t make 27 February?

We have lots of information about claiming Universal Credit for someone who is in education on our website. We will also post a recording of the webinar on our webpages, shortly after the event has taken place. 

This advice applies in England only.

Getting extra support for your child’s learning is a big issue. In fact, it is one of the top reasons parents get in touch with our helpline or visit our website. 

We want to find out more about your experiences of getting support for your child or young person’s special educational needs & disabilities (SEND) in England.  How does your child or young person’s nursery, school or college support their needs if there isn’t an education, health and care (EHC) plan in place?

What is SEN support?

Education settings should provide SEN support within existing resources for children with SEND. This support could include teaching in small groups, adult supervision during playtime, or the use of a pass to exit class to go to a quiet room when needed.

Contact and IPSEA have developed a survey to understand more about the type of SEN support nurseries, schools, and colleges are offering. We want to know if SEN support is regularly reviewed and is helping children progress.

Why is this survey important?

Contact and IPSEA know from speaking to families every day that SEN support can vary widely between education settings, and it is hard to tell whether schools and colleges are following the legal guidelines to support children with special education needs.

The government has made clear that they are interested in looking at ways to improve SEN support. The Education Select Committee Inquiry into Solving the Crisis in SEND directly asked whether SEN Support needs to be made a legal duty that schools must comply with.

Who can complete this survey?

You should only complete this survey if you live in England and don’t have an EHC plan.

The survey should take no more than five minutes to complete.

This survey closes on Tuesday 4 March at 9am

If you have any questions, please get in touch with [email protected]

Paying Council Tax can prove challenging for many, especially with all the extra costs and expenses families face. The same applies to families in Northern Ireland, who have to pay rates instead.

But there are ways of getting help.  For Council Tax, these include:

• Council Tax discount.
• Council Tax Disability Reduction Scheme. 
• Council Tax reduction schemes.

Schemes to help with rates in Northern Ireland include the Rate Relief Scheme, Rate Rebates and the Disabled Person’s Allowance, which can result in a discount. 

To find out more  you’re invited to take part in a special Q&A session with our advisers next week where you can get advice. The Q&A will take place on Thursday 20 February  between 10–11:30am, in our private Facebook Group for parent carers.

Don’t worry if you can’t make it – we’ll share links to the Q&A once the event’s over.

You can also find lots of advice on our website.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is currently at the Committee Stage of its passage through parliament.

This is when MPs scrutinise the bill line-by-line. They’ll consider amendments put forward to change the bill, and look at evidence that members of the public and experts have submitted.

The Public Bill Committee must report back on its work by 5pm tomorrow, Tuesday 11 February.

Contact is a member of the Special Educational Needs Consortium and the Disabled Children’s Partnership (DCP), the two leading coalitions of organisations and parent groups in the sector. Together, we have submitted evidence to the committee on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Breakfast clubs must be inclusive

We welcome the provision of universal breakfast clubs. But the bill does not do enough to ensure these clubs will be inclusive to children with SEND.

Some children need specific dietary accommodations. Some need extra staff support during meal times. It is likely that some children will be unable to get to the clubs on council-provided transport.

We want the bill to set out a requirement for schools to make reasonable adjustments to include children with SEND. And we want local authorities to co-operate with schools to ensure children can get to breakfast clubs and those with education, health and care (EHC) plans have any support needed detailed in the plan.

Home education and school attendance

The bill requires that in certain circumstances, local authorities must approve parents’ requests to home educate their child. Alongside this, local authorities will keep a Children Not in School register.

Many parents home educate their child because they don’t feel the school is providing the support they need. We do not want to see parental choice limited or children kept in unsuitable settings as a consequence of this bill.

We recommend:

• Safeguards to prevent local authorities from using the register to pressure families into unsuitable school placements..
• Clear rights of redress for parents who disagree with local authority decisions on home education.
• The creation of an Attendance Code of Practice that prioritises a support-first approach.

Other proposals

We welcome the duty for local authorities and schools to cooperate on admissions and place planning. 

But place planning must prioritise the inclusion of SEND-specific provisions. SEND units within mainstream schools must not be segregated.

We also want the bill to do more to improve multi-agency working across education, health and social care. This should include streamlining processes for families accessing support.

You can read the full SEND Consortium and DCP submission.

Mum Sally with her son Logan, aged seven.

Meet Sally and her non-verbal autistic son Logan, who had such a blast at our recent sports session for families in North Wales that his mum left feeling on a high – and with renewed hope for the future.

Held in Rhyl, our session was an opportunity for children with additional needs to try out a range of adapted and accessible sports, such as football, athletics, basketball, cricket, boccia, golf and rugby.

Logan struggled at the beginning of the session and had a full meltdown. But with the right approach, things soon changed for the better.

Sally said: “One of Contact’s volunteers supported him and after 20 minutes using calming break outs, lots of patience and encouragement he started to take part in physical play and running about.

“He really settled and enjoyed the full session. It was so lovely to see him laughing and enjoying himself.”

A chance to connect with other parent carers

And Logan wasn’t the only one enjoying himself: the session was also a great chance for Sally to meet other families like hers and connect with other parent carers.

Since Logan’s dad sadly passed away, Sally has struggled with feeling isolated at times – especially as her family live half an hour’s drive away. So being able to connect with other parent carers and Contact staff at our event was a valuable experience.

“I met with another of Contact’s parent volunteers. Lucy’s son is a teenager, but has similar needs to Logan, so it was great to hear her experience. She gave me lots of tips and encouragement. I left feeling on a high,” said Sally.

“It was truly remarkable to see Logan settle, but also watching Sally talk with Lucy, you could see the relief on her face and the hope for the future.”

– Kate, Contact Wales manager

The impact of your support

Sally’s story shows why our workshops and events are so important for bringing parents together and giving disabled children the chance to try something new.

As well as attending our family event, Sally has also been supported by the Contact Cymru team with information and advice on getting a care assessment, applying for respite care, getting help with home adaptations, choosing a school, and making an application for a Bereavement Support Payment (BSP).

It’s thanks to our generous supporters that we are able to help families like Sally’s through our vital events, advice and information. If you are able to, please consider donating so that we can continue supporting thousands of families like hers.

This advice applies in England only.

Contact has called for a new legal framework for disabled children’s social care in our response to the Law Commission’s consultation on reforming support.

We have set out our backing for a new framework to strengthen the rights of disabled children and ensure that families get the support they need.

Our asks for social care law reform

Our submission, informed by parent carers’ experiences, also backed a proposal for national eligibility criteria for disabled children’s social care. This would bring it into line with adult social care law and end the postcode lottery of care for disabled children around the country.

During the consultation, we ran a series of focus groups with families of disabled children. In those, families shared depressing stories of struggling without support, local authority gatekeeping, and being made to feel guilty for asking for help. We also recruited parents for the Law Commission’s consultation events to ensure their voices were heard.

Our asks for social care law reform included:

• A single express legal duty to assess the social care needs of disabled children.
• A new legal framework for disabled children’s social care.
• Disability training for all staff who assess disabled children for social care support.
• A clear duty to assess the needs of carers and siblings that considers their wellbeing needs.
• Direct payments that are ‘sufficient’ to secure the support a disabled child needs, not just a ‘reasonable’ amount.
• And updated definition of disability in line with the Equality Act.
• A right to independent advocacy for disabled children and families that need it, including for parents who are neurodiverse or disabled themselves.
• More effective routes of remedy and redress for families to challenge decisions about their child’s care and support.
• Legal changes to ensure transition planning starts at age 14.

A once in a lifetime opportunity to make the law work

Amanda Elliot, Contact’s health lead, said families were clear they wanted radical reform of a system currently failing their children.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to make the law work for families of disabled children. Parent carers told us they want a fairer, more accessible, system of social care that delivers support when they need it. They want an end to punitive safeguarding assessments when there is no evidence of abuse or neglect.”

Read our full response to the Law Commission’s consultation and find out more about the commission’s proposals.

Do you live in the North West?

Join us for a family trip to the Eureka Science and Discovery Centre in Wallasey on Wednesday 19 February and find out about our homes, bodies and nature, and more.

Eureka! Science + Discovery is designed for children and young people up to 14 years to discover how Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) influence and shape their lives. Through connecting the everyday with the extraordinary, we ignite curiosities and present possibilities.

As it’s half term, there is a week overflowing with watery wonders, including splash-tastic experiments, hands-on crafts, and jaw-dropping shows! Dive deep into the magic of H2O and discover how water shapes our world, nature, bodies, and homes in the most unexpected ways!

This family day is one of our Better Together events. Better Together is our series of fun and engaging activities popular with families with disabled children who might not always have had the opportunity to take part in. Better Together session could be focused on nature, art, music or sport but not restricted to these. Better Together activities are a great opportunity for parents to meet each other and our parent support workers.

Household water bill prices in England and Wales will rise on average £10 a month from April, according to new figures from Water UK.

The trade association representing water companies in the UK says that while price rises will vary across different regions, the average annual bill will be £603.

Alongside rises in energy and supermarket costs, we know that families will be worried about the impact on their finances. For some families with disabled children, there will be help available.

The WaterSure (Wales) scheme

In England and Wales, help with water bills may be available under the WaterSure and WaterSure Wales schemes

These work in exactly the same way, by capping your water bill so you won’t pay more than the average metered bill for the area your water company covers.

To qualify you must:

• Be on certain benefits (check with your supplier which benefits they cover).
• Have a water meter (or be waiting for one to be installed).
• Have a high essential use of water. (This means you have three or more children under 19 in full-time education, or a child with a medical condition or disability that requires your household to use a lot of water).

Children who have certain conditions may automatically qualify under these schemes. Some water suppliers also offer WaterSure if you or someone in your household receives Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment.

Contact your water supplier directly to find out their eligibility criteria and how to apply.

Other help with water suppliers

Some suppliers offer social tariffs for customers on lower incomes or receiving certain benefits. Social tariffs are usually capped at a lower amount than normal bills.

Again, contact your water supplier to find out what help they can provide.

The Consumer Council for Water has information on providers of social tariffs, as well as details of ways to manage water bills.

Related information

Help with household bills

Our helpline advisers have put together a list of scheme and grants to help you stay warm in the winter. Check to see if you are eligible.

Find out more

Benefits

You may be entitled to certain benefits and tax credits that may help with the extra costs you face.

Find out more

Grants, loans, savings & welfare assistance schemes

Information about charity grants you might be able to apply for, local welfare schemes and budgeting loans/advances.

Find out more