Law Commission recommends changes to disabled children’s social care law
Disabled children across England will benefit from clearer legal rights and more consistent support under comprehensive reforms published by the Law Commission today.
The recommendations are the culmination of a two-year review and follow extensive consultation on proposals to modernise the fragmented legal framework governing social care for disabled children. Currently, families and local authorities navigate a complex web of overlapping laws from the 1970s and 1980s that create confusion and inconsistent provision across the country. The new proposals would ensure the law in this area is fairer, simpler and up to date.
The Law Commission recommends keeping disabled children within existing Children Act protections while introducing a discrete set of rights and entitlements for disabled children into that Act. This new, unified framework should be accompanied by dedicated and comprehensive guidance setting out the rights and responsibilities of disabled children, families and local authorities. This guidance should include material which helps local authorities to ensure that there is a more appropriate balance struck between identifying and meeting the needs of disabled children and their families in a non-stigmatising way, and safeguarding them from harm and abuse.
The unified legal framework would establish national eligibility criteria, ending the current postcode lottery where a disabled child in one part of the country will have their needs met but a child in another part of the country with identical needs will not. As a first step toward this national system, the Law Commission recommends that the Government carry out further work – involving disabled children, families and local authorities – to decide what the eligibility criteria should be and ensure that they are financially sustainable.
Other key reforms include giving disabled children express rights to request social care assessments and ensuring they receive independent advocacy when needed, to make sure that their voices are heard. The proposals would also strengthen transition planning to adulthood and improve cooperation between health, education and social care services.
The recommendations aim to balance meeting disability-related needs whilst maintaining essential safeguarding protections.
Commissioner for Public Law, Alison Young, said:
“These recommendations represent a crucial step towards ensuring disabled children receive the support they need, when they need it, regardless of where they live. The current system, built on legislation from decades ago, has become unnecessarily complex and is no longer working for children and families.
“Our proposals would create a simpler, fairer and more accessible framework that puts the child’s best interests at the heart of decision-making whilst maintaining vital protections. The reforms would end the unacceptable situation where a child’s eligibility for support depends more on their postcode than their needs.
“By establishing national eligibility criteria and clearer legal pathways, we can ensure every disabled child has access to consistent, appropriate support. These changes would also empower children by giving them direct rights to request assessments and access independent advocacy when they need it most.”
“Disabled children’s social care law” is the body of legal rules covering:
- whether a disabled child can get help from social services to meet their needs;
- what help they can get; and
- how they get it.
The reforms are likely to affect over half a million disabled children in England. Implementation would require government approval and new legislation to be introduced in Parliament.
The full report and recommendations are now with government for consideration.
The full report and a summary are available here.