Families with disabled children can’t afford to return to work

The Every Disabled Child Matters campaign (EDCM) Campaign warns that Universal Credit proposals will not ‘make work pay’ for families with disabled children

 

EDCM and the Family Fund have launched ‘Breaking down barriers: making work pay for families with disabled children’. This report sets out the findings of a survey of families with disabled children who receive grant help from the Family Fund on the barriers they face entering and remaining in employment.

 

The survey indicates that limited support in meeting the high costs of childcare, and a lack of suitable provision, means that parents of disabled children cannot afford to return to work. Only 24% of survey respondents currently access childcare, and 66% of respondents stated that they pay more for childcare for their disabled child than for their non-disabled child. One parent summed this up, saying: ‘I could not afford to go back to work full time as both my children have disabilities and would need separate childcare… the cost would make working a pointless exercise’.

 

EDCM’s report raises concerns that, despite introducing a 10% cut in support for meeting childcare costs from April 2011, the Government has yet to set out proposals for childcare support within the Universal Credit.

 

‘Breaking down barriers: making work pay for families with disabled children’ calls upon the Government to:

 

·         Commit to improving the quality and availability of childcare for disabled children

·         Commit to providing at least current levels of financial support through disability additions within the Universal Credit, to make work pay for families with disabled children

 

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