The commission recommends sweeping changes in its 220-page paper, ‘Disabled children’s social care: final report’, published this week after a two-year review and consultation.
It calls for a unified legal framework with nationally-set rather than locally-set criteria governing whether a disabled child gets support from social services, what help they get and how they get it. This would be accompanied by comprehensive guidance setting out the rights and responsibilities of children, families and local authorities.
Current Children Act 1989 protections would be retained, and a discrete set of rights and entitlements added to the Act.
Disabled children would be given express rights to request social care assessments and provided with independent advocacy when needed. The commission also wants to strengthen cooperation between health, education and social care services, particularly during transition planning to adulthood.
Currently, parents, carers and local authorities must navigate an assortment of legislation dating back to the 1970s and 1980s. According to the commission, this not only makes accessing support unnecessarily complicated but has resulted in children in some parts of the country being given support while children in other parts with identical needs are not. Many of the legal definitions are now out of date: for example, the definition of ‘disability’ dates from the Second World War.
Alison Young, Commissioner for Public Law, said: ‘These recommendations represent a crucial step towards ensuring disabled children receive the support they need, when they need it, regardless of where they live.
‘Our proposals would create a simpler, fairer and more accessible framework that puts the child’s best interests at the heart of decision-making whilst maintaining vital protections.’
