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Notices and Press Releases

Daycare Trust : welcomes extra cash for families with disabled children

Daycare Trust, the National Childcare Campaign, gave a warm welcome to news of a £340 million funding boost from the Treasury to improve childcare and support for parents with disabled children. The funding, announced on 21st May 2007 by Economic Secretary to the Treasury Ed Balls MP, will be spent over three years on improving access to childcare and support.

Joint Chief Executive Emma Knights said:

"Families with disabled children cope every day with difficulties that would floor most people. Many are caring for more than one child with multiple disabilities and they are among the likeliest families to be in poverty. These are the parents who most need childcare. However, because the high-quality specialist care they need is in incredibly short supply, they are the least able to find it."

"Caring for a disabled child is a round-the-clock responsibility, and one from which parents really need regular breaks to recharge their batteries. For many parents, good childcare for their disabled child gives them a few vital hours to spend with their non-disabled children, who may otherwise lose out. A properly funded network of childcare support for disabled children would also give these parents the chance to work, giving them a lifeline out of poverty."

Daycare Trust is conducting research for the London Development Agency (LDA), whose findings are due for release in June, on the difficulties of finding childcare for families with disabled children. The project has involved listening to families tell their own stories of the everyday struggles they contend with, and the transforming effect that the right childcare has on their lives.

"While we welcome this funding, we are concerned that the government may be trying to squeeze a lot out of a very small pot of money, which adds up to less than £500 extra per disabled child, over three years. We look forward to hearing the details of this funding to help disabled children, and hope that it will pave the way to a better future for some of the most needy families in our society," she added.

Ed Balls is the keynote speaker at the Daycare Trust's Conference on 13 June 2007.