Steve Broach, manager of the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign, described the decision as a historic moment.
Explaining its change of heart, the government said it felt families and disabled children placed great importance on short break services. Ministers have put forward an amendment to the Children and Young Persons Bill that will put a specific requirement on local authorities to provide short breaks.
Currently local authorities have the option of providing short breaks under the Children Act 1989.
As part of its Aiming High for Disabled Children strategy, the government has already announced it will spend £359m on short breaks during the next three years. It has also introduced a disabled children's performance indicator for local authorities.
But while he welcomed the move to put a duty on authorities, Broach said it still did not go far enough. "We still want a right to breaks for the families in greatest need. It's a very important marker to get a commitment but we need to see the detail," he said. "We've had the funding, got the new national indicator and now we have got the proper legal pack for the provision of these services. So it all needs to sit together and we need to see how it operates in practice."
Mark Robertson, head of information and publications at disabled children's charity Contact a Family, agreed: "Unfortunately access to a good short breaks service has been a postcode lottery with many parents having to reach breaking point before being offered any support. This amendment wil- go some way towards our ultimate wish, that every family no matter where they live in the UK has a vital respite service available to them."
The amendment has been tabled by independent Lord Brian Rix and junior schools minister Lord Andrew Adonis. The change will be debated in the House of Lords on 17 March.
Christine Lenehan, director of the Council for Disabled Children, welcomed the move and praised the government for listening to campaigners.
- www.parliament.uk.
