The great divide

Despite rising numbers of children with disabilities and their needs becoming more complex, there is often a woeful shortage of childcare places for them and no specific help for their hard-pressed families through the tax credit system.

The Children Act 2006 appears to offer these families hope. It requires local authorities to offer parents an assessment of their own needs as part of any assessment under the legislation for their disabled child. Under an earlier piece of legislation, the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004, local authorities are supposed to consider parents' needs in relation to caring and work.

But passing legislation is one thing; ensuring that it has a meaningful and beneficial impact on disabled children and their families is another. A hard- hitting report from the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign questions the effect of the new act and warns that, even with new duties in place, 'without significant demand and supply-side funding and performance targets, local authorities will continue to struggle to deliver any real improvements for disabled children'.