At the 2021 Spending Review, Rishi Sunak did not announce any dedicated COVID recovery, or long-term funding for disabled children’s health and care services. Several pots of non-ringfenced money were announced that could help disabled children and families. However, there is little clarity over how many of the non-ringfenced funding streams – like the local authority grant funding or education recovery funding – will help address the urgent health and care needs of disabled children and families.

We need dedicated funding for short breaks, health services and more to help disabled children and parents recover lost progress in managing their conditions, and tackle social isolation and exhaustion.

The Sandcastle Trust is proud to be a member of The Disabled Children’s Partnership (DCP), a major coalition of more than 90 organisations campaigning for improved health and social care for disabled children, young people and their families.  The DCP is calling on the government to provide urgent clarification of how Spending Review funds will meet the urgent needs of disabled children and families in a large, open letter made up of different DCP organisations and others.  You can read the letter here.