Sophie Ugle, from Kingston upon Thames in Surrey, said the issue was part of a national problem that the Government's national childcare strategy had failed to address. She has written a report outlining how the strategy is failing disabled children and their families in her area and also gives her solutions on how to improve local services.
The report has been sent to more than 25 people, including education secretary Charles Clarke, Sure Start minister Catherine Ashton, local councillors and chief executives of national voluntary organisations.
Ms Ugle, who trained as a registered nurse and works full-time in the voluntary sector, said she wrote the report out of her own 'personal frustrations' in trying to secure childcare for her 12-year-old daughter, Rachel, whose severe learning disabilities mean she needs extra support in a mainstream club. Ms Ugle said the specialist provision available in Kingston did not provide enough hours for working parents. She said, 'Over the years I have listened to other mothers' experiences. Our increasing disappointment at the local council's failure to deliver the National Childcare Strategy, with its slogan "Childcare for All", has culminated in a need to be heard.'
Ms Ugle has been a member of the special educational needs sub-group of Kingston's Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership for the past two years. She said the number of after-school and holiday places available for her daughter, both in specialist and mainstream provision, has not increased since 1998, and that not only was childcare provision in the borough severely lacking, but it discriminated against both disabled children and working mothers.
Although every mainstream holiday and after-school club has an equal opportunities policy, she said, 'clubs can say Rachel cannot attend without a support worker, thereby discriminating against her because she is disabled'.
In addition, although disabled children can access funding through the EYDCP for one-to-one support for three after-school sessions a week, they cannot do so for holiday clubs. Ms Ugle said, 'This does not make sense.
Are the parents of disabled children only supposed to work for three days a week, term-time only?'
Sheila Lycholit, chair of Kingston EYDCP, said Ms Ugle's report raised important concerns about the gaps in childcare provision for working parents with disabled children. She added that its special educational needs sub-group was developing a three-year strategy plan taking account of issues Ms Ugle had raised.
Ms Ugle has won the backing of Stephen Burke, chief executive of the Daycare Trust. He described after-school and holiday care provision for disabled children as 'one of the hidden childcare needs'.