£1.5 billion funding gap for services for disabled children

The Disabled Children’s Partnership has published economic research showing a £1.5 billion funding gap for services needed by disabled children. This investment shortfall and its consequences were highlighted in a BBC Panorama programme broadcast on Monday 16 July.

There are over one million disabled children in the UK, 33% more than a decade ago. Yet fewer disabled children than ever before are currently getting support.  Our research shows there is a funding gap in disabled children’s services which means tens of thousands are missing out on vital help that enables them to do things other children take for granted like eat, talk, leave the house, have fun and attend school.

The Panorama programme (which you can watch here) highlighted the consequences of this – families at their wits end having to go to court to fight for vital support and dealing with a system with limited and dwindling resources. That’s why we are urgently calling on the government to plug the £1.5 billion gap – just 0.2% of total government spending – to ensure disabled children and their families have a decent quality of life.

Our research, carried out by Development Economics, found that there is a £1.1 billion shortfall in funding for health services for disabled children and £433 million extra needed for social care.

You can read our research paper here.