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| printer friendly | What's New - May 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||
The May edition of 'What's New' contains information on:
Contact a Family NewsCounting the costs – Contact a Family surveyFinances can be a major concern for families with disabled children. According to recent research it costs almost £7,000 a year more to raise a disabled child due to additional costs such as special aids and equipment, and with getting around. With living costs rising for all families, Contact a Family wants to find out how this is impacting on families in the UK where they’re caring for a child with a disability or serious health condition. This research will be used in future campaigning work. Please take a couple of minutes to fill out our online survey at Web: http://www.cafamily.org.uk/quiz.html We hope to publicise the results of the survey in the Autumn.
Help other parents of disabled children deal with bullyingContact a Family needs your help to produce a parent guide around bullying. Research suggests that more than one in three disabled children have been bullied at school and many parents feel they have nowhere to turn. Working with Parentline Plus we are producing a guide for parents of disabled children to help them cope when their child is being bullied. As well as containing information about the action schools should be taking and the legislation around bullying, it will include parents’ experiences. If your child is being, or has been, bullied because of their disability and you’d like to share your experiences to help other parents please get in touch. Contact Penny Roper on the freephone helpline 0808 808 3555 or e-mail: penny.roper@cafamily.org.uk New and updated guides from Contact a FamilyRing the helpline 0808 808 3555, for free copies of these new and updated guides:
Other NewsExtra £225m to beat fuel povertyEnergy Secretary John Hutton has announced a deal agreed between the UK's big six energy companies (British Gas, E.On, Scottish Power, Scottish & Southern, EDF, and NPower) and the government. The energy firms have agreed to boost their collective annual spending on social assistance programmes by £225m over the next three years. Up to 100,000 households could be helped with their fuel bills and the extra assistance will be targeted at households on low incomes which are most vulnerable to fuel poverty, including the elderly and disabled people. For more information about schemes to help with fuel costs, ring the Contact a Family helpline on 0808 808 3555.
SEN funding enquiryAn inquiry set up to look at the SEN system has heard accusations that funding has been spent on unrelated expenses. Brian Lamb, who is chair of the Special Educational Consortium and is leading the inquiry, said it can be difficult to trace how money is spent, which risks damaging confidence in the system. Lamb said he had heard accusations that SEN funding had been spent on unrelated items, such as refurbishment or assistants who helped children other than those with special needs. He said it was vital to address funding to raise parental confidence in the system. For further information see Web: http://tinyurl.co.uk/buea Key court ruling on the disability equality dutyA recent ruling in the High Court has gone against a local council for failing to take full account of its legal duties. The judge ruled that Harrow Council's decision to introduce a policy to provide services to people with critical needs only was unlawful. This ruling serves as a reminder for public authorities of their obligations under the disability equality legislation and shows how seriously it is being taken by the courts. Guidance on the disability equality duty is available on the Office for Disability Issues (ODI) website: http://www.officefordisability.gov.uk and Equality and Human Rights Commission website: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/Pages/default.aspx
Campaign win means carers countedCarers of sick and disabled people have won their battle to keep a question on caring in the 2011 census. Treasury Minister Angela Eagle has confirmed that money has been made available for an extra page of questions that had been under threat. A question on caring responsibilities was included for the first time ever in the 2001 Census and has led to much improved information and statistics about caring in the UK. The announcement was warmly welcomed by Carers UK who has been running a campaign, Keep Counting Carers, which has involved the support of carers, politicians, academics and researchers. Web: http://www.carersuk.org/Newsandcampaigns/News/1207152213 Disabled children’s equipment provisionChild health and research charity BDF Newlife has called on health and social care chiefs to undertake a significant review of their spending and policy on equipment for disabled children. The charity has proposed a six point plan of action around provision of equipment which it hopes to will be adopted by Chief Executives in health and social care around England, Scotland and Wales. They want them to employ new ways of monitoring ‘unmet need’, to tackle any failings in their area and review their budgets for provision of equipment. The charity is writing to every CEO in the UK with overall responsibility for disabled children’s equipment provision, calling on them to adopt its plan. For further information see Web: http://tinyurl.co.uk/2tz8 Reports, guides, websites and other resourcesExtending InclusionThe Council for Disabled Children (CDC) has launched a new guide to support the inclusion of disabled children in children’s centres and extended schools. The guidance is designed as a helpful tool for children’s centres, schools and other practitioners to ensure that disabled children have full and equal access to services and activities. It also includes useful case studies and a CD of resources. To find out more, and download a copy, please go to Web: http://www.ncb.org.uk/extendinginclusion
Updated public service delivery agreements for children and young peopleThe 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review announced thirty new Public Service Agreements (PSAs) across many aspects of government. These set a vision for continuous improvement in priority areas. A number of these agreements specifically focused on improving outcomes for children and young people, for example around educational achievement. Following the announcement of the government’s children’s plan these have since been updated. To view the new Public Service Agreements, see Web: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/pbr_csr/psa/pbr_csr07_psaopportunity.cfm
Children, Young People and Speech, Language and CommunicationJohn Bercow MP was asked by government to carry out an independent review of services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. His interim report has now been published and can be viewed at Web: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/bercowreview/index.shtml
Necessary stuffThe Social Care Institute of Excellence has published ‘Necessary stuff’ – a review of what is known about the social care needs of children with complex health care needs and their families, and about the services designed to meet those needs. Further information is available at Web: http://www.scie.org.uk/kr18 Events, activities, workshops and training around the countryProgress Future Placements ForumDate: 21st May 2008
Kids South 2008Date: 19th June
London Zoo - Special Children’s DayDate: 14th June 2008 |
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This Web Site © Copyright, Contact a Family 2007. Although great care has been taken in the compilation and preparation of this work to ensure accuracy, Contact a Family cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions. Any medical information is provided for education/information purposes. It should be noted that most information written about specific disorders includes the most severe scenario. Many individual cases may not display all the features mentioned and the degree of severity of the features that are displayed may vary a great deal between individual cases. You should obtain further information from your medical practitioner. Any links to external websites have been carefully selected but are provided without any endorsement of the content of those sites. Please refer to our detailed Legal page for more information. Contact a Family, 209-211 City Road, London EC1V 1JN Tel: (020) 7608 8700. Registered Charity No. 284912. Company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales No. 1633333. HM Revenue & Customs charity tax reference No. XN54769. VAT Reg. No. GB 749 3846 82. |
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