Press office

For media enquiries only, contact us on:

• 07599 930 090
• [email protected]

Unfortunately due to staff capacity we can’t help with student enquiries. But there’s lots of information on this website on carer and disability issues.

Case studies

We have a database of families with disabled children who are excellent speakers and are happy to talk to the media on a range of issues.

Experts and spokespeople

We have spokespeople who are experts in a range of carer and disability issues available for media interviews.

Una Summerson, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Contact

Una has championed disability rights for over 14 years and was a finalist in the Sheila McKechnie Foundation Awards 2018 for Contact’s campaign work on school transport for disabled children. She was also instrumental in Contact’s successful campaign to stop the DLA takeaway for disabled children in hospital.

Recent campaigns

• Counting the Costs 2021
• Covid-19 vaccine campaign
• School transport
• Universal Credit

Statistics about disabled children and their families

• In the UK, there are 1 million disabled children, 33% more than a decade ago (Disabled Children’s Partnership,Give It Back, 2019).
• 99.1% of disabled children live at home and are supported by their families (Contact).
• A quarter of parents of disabled children provide 100 hours of care a week – equivalent to three full-time jobs (Contact, Caring More than Most, 2017).
• 52% of families with a disabled child are at risk of experiencing poverty, due to the difficulties of working and caring. (Every Disabled Child Matters, Disabled Children and Child Poverty, 2007).
• It costs three times more to raise a disabled child, as it does to raise a child without disabilities.
• Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are seven times more likely to be excluded from school. (Department for Education, 2016).
• 22% of children with disabilities are illegally excluded from school every week – put on part-time timetables, asked not to attend school trips or to stay away during school inspections. (Contact, Falling Through The Net, 2013).

About Contact

We are the charity for families with disabled children.

We understand that life with a disabled child brings unique challenges, and we exist to help families feel valued, supported, confident and informed.

To make that happen, we work in three closely linked ways – we support families through a national helpline and one to one support, we bring families together to support each other and we help families to campaign to improve life for themselves and others.

Last year (2020/21):

• Our helpline provided advice to 9,737 families, with invaluable information on a range of issues including financial support and getting help for a child in school.
• On average, families eligible for financial gain are more than £5,538 a year better off after receiving advice from our Family Finances helpline team.
• 4,974 parents attended our workshops and family events, learning about rights and entitlements, getting support on common issues and meeting other parent carers for emotional support.
• In total we helped 196,000 families with disabled children through our advice and support services.

Find out more about us.