Disabled children missing from social care reform plan
4 mins read
Friday 29 May 2026
A major new government plan to reform children’s social care risks failing disabled children and their families yet again, Contact is warning.
Delivering the children’s social care reset sets out how councils should transform children’s social care from 2026-29. The 60‑page document focuses heavily on safeguarding, child protection, Family Help (see below), children in care and the social care workforce. But disabled children barely get a mention.
Amanda Elliot, Contact’s health and social care lead, says families will be disappointed and frustrated to see their needs overlooked once more:
“The minister is billing this as ‘whole‑system reform’, but reform is not ‘whole’ if it disregards disabled children. The plan makes no reference to the Law Commission’s excellent proposals for reforming disabled children’s social care. What families need is practical support at home, respite care, equipment and short breaks – not fruitless safeguarding assessments or advice on how to become more ‘resilient’.
“Not is it clear how any of this links to the ongoing reforms to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). If the government wants schools to be more inclusive and fewer families to need education, health and care (EHC) plans, then families must get timely, effective support outside school as well as inside it. That will not happen while disabled children’s social care remains punitive, outdated, fragmented, and legally unclear.”
About the government’s new plan
The Implementation Plan 2026–2029 is the government’s roadmap for how councils must change children’s social care over the next three years. It mainly focuses on safeguarding and children in care, with very little on disabled children’s social care.
What the guidance covers:
- Family Help rollout, replacing early help and Child in Need with one support offer.
- New child protection arrangements and multi‑agency working.
- Regional Care Cooperatives to improve children’s home sufficiency.
- Support for kinship carers.
- Improving recruitment and training of social workers.
What’s missing for disabled children:
- A dedicated disabled children’s workstream.
- A clear link to SEND reforms.
- Any mention of the Law Commission’s proposals.
- No commitments on short breaks or practical support in the home – services families say they need most.
- Action on safeguarding misuse, despite evidence that disability‑related needs are still being treated as parenting concerns.
What the Law Commission has proposed
In September 2025, the Law Commission published 40 recommendations to fix disabled children’s social care. These include:
- A single statutory duty to assess disabled children’s social care needs.
- A single duty to meet eligible needs, based on national criteria.
- New statutory guidance for councils and families.
- A requirement that assessors have the skills, knowledge and competence to assess disabled children.
- A duty enabling parent carers to request an assessment for themselves.
What has happened since?
Children and Families Minister Josh MacAlister avoided committing to reform in his interim response to the Commission in March. He also claimed the government’s Family Help programme was “already beginning to deliver many of the intended outcomes” of the Law Commission’s report.
Contact has raised concerns that the government may be stalling reform, including in Community Care magazine. Leading barrister Alex Ruck Keene, in a recent blog, has argued that Family Help is being used to mask councils’ existing legal duties to support disabled children, debunking the myth that this support is “non‑statutory” or optional.
Help us keep up the pressure
Contact is campaigning for the government to accept the Law Commission’s proposals in full and without delay. You can help by using our template to email your MP and urge them to press the government to act.
The government will publish its final response to the Law Commission on 16 September.