Found: Additional amounts are added to provide for individual needs such as housing, children, disability,

Found: Additional amounts are added to provide for individual needs such as housing, children, disability,

Found: (ii) Able Child Africa and Save the Children disability-inclusive child safeguarding guidelines and tool

Found: If you get money for children, disability, for other aspects of the claim, they will still be paid.

Found: allow people to live with dignity and participate fully in society (also recognising the costs of children

Found: In the group of non-SSBC children, disability and speaking English as an additional language were correlated

Found: other family types, and the ‘minimum amount’ will vary significantly with family size, presence of children

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support disabled children going without electricity or heating due to their families being impacted by the increased cost of living.

Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)

The Government provides support to disabled children primarily through Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children. This benefit provides significant financial support to cover extra costs incurred as a result of a disability and was uprated in line with inflation in April.

Some family members who provide care to a disabled child may also be eligible for Carer’s Allowance (CA) if they meet the eligibility criteria. This is worth £76.75 per week.

The Government has also provided specific, targeted cost of living support to those in receipt of disability benefits like DLA through the Disability Cost of Living Payments. The Government will begin to deliver the second Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 from June 20th. This is in addition to the previous Disability Cost of Living Payment, also worth £150, delivered from September 2022.

These Disability Cost of Living Payments can be received alongside the Cost of Living Payments for recipients of means-tested benefits (such as households on Universal Credit), namely the £650 payment announced in May 2022 and the £900 payment announced at Autumn Statement 2022.

The Government is providing further support with the cost of essentials through a further one-year extension to the Household Support Fund in England, with additional £1bn funding (including Barnett funding for the devolved administrations). The fund will continue to enable Local Authorities to support vulnerable households, such as through supermarket vouchers and cash grants. Local Authorities can use this fund to provide support for disabled residents.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she will take to ensure the equal availability and delivery of support for disabled children in all post codes.

Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero

In the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, the department set out our mission for more children and young people to have their needs met effectively in mainstream education providers, reducing reliance on Education, Health and Care plans to access support.

We will improve mainstream education through setting standards for early and accurate identification of need, and timely access to support to meet those needs. The standards will include clarifying the types of support that should ordinarily be available in mainstream education providers, who are responsible for securing the support and from which budgets the support is obtained.

This will help families, practitioners and providers understand what support every child or young person should be receiving from early years through to further education, no matter where they live or what their needs are. By the end of 2025, the department will publish a significant proportion of the national standards.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the document entitled Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, published on 2nd March 2023, when her Department plans to review social care legislation relating to disabled children.

Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero

The department has accepted the recommendation of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care for the Law Commission to review children's social care legislation for disabled children. We recognise that the current legal framework can make it difficult for families to understand what they are entitled to. We are in preliminary discussions with the Law Commission about the parameters and timing of such a review, and we will work with the Law Commission to conclude the review as soon as practicable.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of all children with SEND having access to a Family Hub.

Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero

The department published the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, which sets out the next steps we will take to deliver a more positive experience for children, young people and families. The plan can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1139561/SEND_and_alternative_provision_improvement_plan.pdf.

The department will establish a single national system that delivers for every child and young person with SEND so that they enjoy their childhood, achieve good outcomes, and are well prepared for adulthood and employment.

Family hubs have an important role to play in supporting the delivery of this vision for children with SEND. The department has announced a package of around £300 million to transform a wide range of services for parents, carers, babies, and children in half of upper tier local authorities across England, including by creating a network of family hubs. The department has published guidance setting out the expectations of local authorities receiving a share of the funding, which includes specific expectations around hubs helping families who have children with SEND to access appropriate support and services. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme-local-authority-guide.

Found: comprise a basic amount – the ‘standard allowance’ – plus additional elements f or housing costs, children

Found: with 12% of girls being married before they are 15 and 50% before they are 18 (Ministry of Gender, Children

Found: person households.10 However, it also included 12 single parents and five from couple households with children