You are here: News Legal resource for parents makes sure disabled children don’t miss out on early years’ education

 

A new guide launched today, Monday 6th July, by legal experts Irwin Mitchell and charities Contact a FamilyEvery Disabled Child Matters and the Family and Childcare Trust will help parents with disabled children seek redress if the childcare system fails them. It forms part of the charities’ new campaign ‘Levelling the Playing Field’, calling for equal access to childcare for disabled children. 

The guide, Helping you access free childcare for your 2, 3 and 4 year old, will make it easier for parents with disabled children to understand their rights around the government’s free early education offer and help them challenge decisions made by local authorities and childcare providers that results in their child being denied access to free childcare.

Its publication follows recent government proposals to extend its free early years’ education offer to working parents and is published one year after an independent Parliamentary Inquiry concluded that families with disabled children are being failed by childcare at every step.

Amanda Batten, CEO of Contact a Family, says:

“We welcome the current political focus on childcare generally but disabled children continue to be sidelined. Disabled pre-schoolers are missing out on the early education and social opportunities enjoyed by their non-disabled peers and too many of their parents are being denied the opportunity to work because suitable childcare simply isn’t available. Our new guide is a first step towards levelling the playing field by helping parents understand their rights and showing them what they can do if the system lets them down. “We will continue to campaign for the government to urgently address the inequality in childcare that currently exist. Families with disabled children must be given the same consideration in the childcare debate and have equal access to childcare.”

Stacie Lewis from London is mum to May who has Cerebral Palsy and says:

“When I wanted to return to work a year after May’s birth it should have been straightforward. It was anything but. Finding childcare was a nightmare. It was a challenge, true – but it was also heartbreaking. It was very early in my daughter’s life to learn that many people would only pay lip-service when it came to helping her.”

The coalition of charities are also appealing to families with disabled children under 5 years old to take part in a short survey about their access to the free early education offer. The findings will be used to build up a national picture of the barriers faced by these families and can be found at www.surveymonkey.com/r/FS26SP2

-ENDS-

Contact: Mark Bou Mansour, Communications and Campaigns Manager. Telephone 0207 940 7535, mobile 07538 334 772, email: mark@familyandchildcaretrust.org.

Notes to Editor:

  • Currently in England all 3 and 4-year-olds are entitled to 15 hours of free early education / childcare for 38 weeks of the year. Some two-year-olds are also eligible, for example, any two-year-old who is in receipt of DLA or who has a statement of special education need or an Education, Health and Care Plan. A 2-year-old also qualifies if their parents are in receipt of certain means-tested benefits. In May, the government announced that it planned to double the amount of free childcare for working parents, from 15 hours to 30.
  • The Parliamentary Inquiry into childcare for disabled children (July 2014) published its findings in a report:Parliamentary Inquiry into childcare for disabled children: levelling the playing field for families with disabled children and young people. It was supported by Every Disabled Child Matters, Family and Childcare Trust, Contact a Family and Working Families. The Inquiry found that:
  • 41% of families with children aged 3 and 4 are unable to access the current 15 hours free entitlement to childcare due to a chronic lack of appropriate settings or lack of funding
  • Nearly all (92%) parents with a disabled child told last year’s Parliamentary Inquiry that finding childcare for their child is more difficult than for a non-disabled child. 
  • 86% of parent carers who responded to the Inquiry’s survey reported paying above average childcare costs, with 38% paying £11-20 and 5% paying more than £20
  • 72% of families with disabled children have cut back or given up work because of childcare problems
  • The childcare situation gets worse as a disabled child gets older: the cost increases and availability gets even more limited as mainstream holiday and after school clubs are often not inclusive
  • There is confusion among local authorities, nurseries and schools about what their duties are in providing childcare for disabled children

About the Family and Childcare Trust

The Family and Childcare Trust aims to make the UK a better place for families. We are a leading national family charity in the field of policy, research and advocacy on childcare and family issues, with over 40 years’ experience. Our on-the-ground work with parents and providers informs our research and campaigns. We focus on the early years and childcare because they are crucial to boosting children’s outcomes throughout life and supporting parents to work.

About Every Disabled Child Matters 

Every Disabled Child Matters (EDCM) is the national campaign to get rights and justice for every disabled child. It is run by four leading organisations working with disabled children and their families: Contact a Family, Council for Disabled Children, Mencap and the Special Educational Consortium. Find out more at www.edcm.org.uk

About Contact a Family

Contact a Family is the only UK charity that provides information, advice and support to families with disabled children whatever their condition or disability. Last year we helped 320,000 families to access life-changing help. Visit www.cafamily.org.uk

About Irwin Mitchell

Irwin Mitchell is over 100 years old and is one of the largest law firms in the UK. There are offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Leeds, London, Manchester, Middlesbrough (Consulting Office), Newcastle, Sheffield and Southampton. Irwin Mitchell Scotland LLP is a separate Scottish legal practice regulated by the Law Society of Scotland and has an office in Glasgow.

For more information visit www.irwinmitchell.com