News

The quality of services for disabled children depends on where they live and how hard parents push for change, says a report this week.

The Audit Commission report, 'Services for disabled children' , states that services are rarely based on the priorities and needs of individual families, and when services are provided it is often too little too late. It found a “jigsaw puzzle of services” leaving families struggling to find out essential information and support.

Audit Commission chairperson James Strachan said: “Improving disabled children's services does not mean new targets, new structures or wholly new approaches. What is needed is better management of services so that good practice is mainstreamed, the leadership that makes this possible, and a new attitude which sees the social exclusion of disabled children as unacceptable.”

The commission recommends that all relevant public sector bodies should identify local needs and agree a joint plan of action to improve services with their strategic partners, including the independent sector. And it calls on the government to prioritise the implementation of the National Service Framework for Children.