Three ‘Pillars’ to deliver better support and care for disabled children and their families
Thursday September 26, 2019
To make a real difference to lives of disabled children, the
Government must make them a priority, including by appointing a
Minister for Disabled Children; by clarifying and reviewing the
rights and responsibilities within the system; and by ensuring
there is sufficient funding for services for disabled children and
their families.
In this blog,
Disabled Children's Partnership (DCP) Campaign Manager Stephen
Kingdom sets out three pillars on which to build better support for
children and families.
It's been a turbulent few months in the country, with the Brexit
deadline approaching and a possible election looming into view. It
is easy to forget, therefore, that there are other things going
on.
For the DCP, that means continuing to campaign for better
support for disabled children and their families.In the midst of
the recent political drama, there have also been some important
developments and announcements for disabled children and their
families over the summer.
In June, we launched our new Give It Back
campaign with The Sun, calling on the government to put back
the £434 million missing from budgets for social care for disabled
children. In July, the Commons Education Committee published a
report on school funding, which described the funding for special
educational needs and disability (SEND) as "completely
inadequate."
And this was followed this month by a damning National Audit
Office report which concluded that "the system for supporting
pupils with SEND is not, on current trends, financially
sustainable." At the same time, the Local Government Association
reported a £1.4 billion - and growing - funding gap for children's
services.
The Government has responded with additional funding for schools
and for social
care and with the announcement of a review of the SEND system.
These are, of course, to be welcomed. But that welcome needs to be
heavily caveated. The additional funding for schools includes £700
million for "high needs", but this is less than the projected
shortfall and only guaranteed for one year.
As for the social care, the increased funding needs to meet the
well-documented pressures on adult social care; as well as child
protection and children in care. It is doubtful that much, if any,
of the increased funding will reach disabled children and their
families. And whilst we are pleased to see the government has
recognised the need to review how the system is working, it is
action we need to address the crisis in support for disabled
children and their families.
To this end, we have identified three pillars to underpin and
ensure improved support for disabled children and their families.
These will form our main campaigning calls for the next year:
Pillar one - Make disabled children a priority
Disabled children to be made a priority across government, at
both national and local level, and the Government must appoint a
Minister for Disabled Children.
At both national and local level, responsibility for the support
that disabled children and their families need sits with a range of
organisations. All too often, the needs of disabled children and
their families are not the priority within those services; and
no-one sees it as their responsibility to ensure that services
join-up and meet the needs of families.
This needs to change. The government should appoint a Minister
for Disabled Children with clear responsibility, accountability and
power across departments to make sure that the right support from
health, social care, education and other services is in place for
families. This arrangement should also be mirrored in local
areas.
Pillar two - clarify rights and review the law
The government to work with parents to clarify the existing
rights and entitlements and to undertake a review of the legal
framework to strengthen and simplify it.
The existing law related to disabled children and their families
stems from over 10 different Acts of Parliament, regulations and
guidance which have developed over the past 50 years. It is
difficult for parents to navigate, and it leads to different
services and agencies shifting responsibility between themselves,
with families falling between the gaps. The government must work
with parents to improve guidance on the current system - so that it
is easier for them to know their rights - and introduce reforms to
make the system simpler, and rights and responsibilities
clearer.
Pillar three - Address funding shortfalls and create a
dedicated fund
The government to increase funding for health and social care
for disabled children to meet the current funding gap; and to
introduce a new innovation fund to support joined-up working and
early intervention. There is currently a £1.5 billion funding gap
across health and social care support for disabled children and
their families. The government must fill this funding gap as a
matter of urgency.
To support longer-term sustainability, we are also calling on
the government to set up an Early Intervention and Family
Resilience Innovation Fund. This would support projects that
transform disabled children's health and social care by fixing
problems at the earliest point of identified need and by focusing
on the family as a whole.
The Fund would initially support a vanguard of innovative
service providers but with the infrastructure to upscale successful
projects, leading to cashable savings, as well as long-term
economic and social return. Projects would be robustly evaluated,
and learning would be shared to ensure that what works is promoted
and has a sustained impact on the lives of disabled children and
their families.
Get involved
You can help support our campaign now by
signing our open letter to the Chancellor asking him to give
back the £434 million missing from social care budgets for disabled
children.
To keep up to date with DCP campaigns, sign up
to all our latest news and updates.
Written by
Steven Kingdom
at 10:58