Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Disability Unit has made of the potential merits of introducing emergency funding for disabled children’s social care.

The Government is committed to supporting disabled people affected by the COVID-19 outbreak including disabled children.

The Cabinet Office Disability Unit works with disability stakeholders and across Government Departments to ensure that the needs of disabled people are considered in the Government’s response to COVID-19.

On 19 May 2020 the Government announced £37.3 million for the Family Fund to help over 75,000 low-income families raising children who are disabled or seriously ill, including £10 million specifically in response to the pandemic. Details of the announcement have been published here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/37-million-to-support-children-with-complex-needs

Furthermore, the Government has provided £3.2 billion of additional to support local authorities to address any pressures they are facing in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including in children’s social care and for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services.

We will publish the National Strategy for Disabled People this year taking into account the impacts of the pandemic on disabled people. The strategy will focus on the issues that disabled people say affect them the most in all aspects of life.