Bill "may penalise disabled children's parents"
Janaki Mahadevan
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
A campaign group has raised concerns about the Welfare Reform Bill's impact on parents of disabled children, as it has its second reading in the House of Commons today.
In its briefing on support for parents of disabled children, Every Disabled Child Matters (EDCM) has voiced worries that the Government's emphasis on getting parents back to work by abolishing income support may lead to parents of disabled children being unfairly penalised.
The bill aims to give incentives for people to move from benefits into employment. But the campaign group said: "Although many parents of disabled children want to work, the current patchy and inadequate state of services means that large numbers of families, particularly lone parents, are prevented from doing so."
In submissions to the green and white papers preceding the bill EDCM has outlined that parents of disabled children often cannot afford childcare, which costs around five times that for non-disabled children.
Although the group welcomed assurances in 2007 from the then secretary of state, Peter Hain that interests of families with disabled children will be protected, it said clarity was still needed within the bill to ensure families and carers of disabled children who receive disability living allowance were excluded from the regulations.
