Families of disabled children need better support

Research published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) earlier this month showed that 72 per cent of families with disabled children are not currently accessing any care and family support services.

The Every Disabled Child Matters (EDCM) campaign said this "demonstrated no real increase in provision" compared to 12 months previously.

The DCSF research also showed that only 14 per cent of parents of disabled children felt they had been given enough information about how to access care and family support services for their child.

David Congdon, head of policy and campaigns at Mencap and an EDCM Board member, said: "Despite many areas receiving acceptable overall scores [in the DCSF research], the underlying breakdown by service area and core offer area reveals much room for improvement.

"The proactive targeting of parents who have not previously received care and family support services is a fundamental part of adequately supporting families with disabled children. We call upon the government to clarify what steps it will take to ensure this is addressed by local areas as a priority."

Download the reports broken down by local authority here, and PCT area here.