Aiming High for Disabled Children
Why campaign?
Aiming High for Disabled Children: Better Support for
Families (AHDC) is the government ‘transformation
programme’ for services for disabled children and their families in
England from 2008 – 2011.
AHDC was an excellent result for the campaigning work of EDCM and
all of our supporters. The announcement of the programme in 2007 as
part of the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review followed a
series of
Parliamentary Hearings that took place in 2006. At the
hearings MPs took evidence directly from parents and young people
about their experience of services and support.
EDCM is now campaigning for sustained
investment in the services and resources that AHDC has provided
beyond 2011.
Funding for disabled children’s
services
AHDC commits £430 million to local
authority disabled children’s services from 2008-2011.
The largest portion of the funding is for
short break services.
£280 million has been allocated to the local authorities in England
to significantly increase the range and number of short breaks they
provide to disabled children and their families.
Other service areas that received funding
are:
- Childcare: £35 million is
allocated to a childcare accessibility project to improve access to
childcare for disabled children
- Transition: £19 million
is allocated to a Transition Support Programme to support service
improvements that will promote disabled young people’s transition
to adulthood
- Parent participation: £5
million is allocated to support the development of parent forums
throughout England
Funding for health
services
AHDC is a programme run jointly by the
Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department of
Health. In February 2009 in its
Healthy lives, brighter futures strategy, the
government clarified that Primary Care Trusts (local health bodies
also known as PCTs) have £340 million from 2008-2011 to deliver
AHDC in partnership with local authorities. The four key service
areas they are expected to use this funding for are:
- Short breaks
- Children’s community equipment
- Children’s wheelchairs
- Children’s palliative care
However unlike the funding for local
authorities, this funding for PCTs is not ring-fenced.
Find out more about our campaign on
disabled children and health.
AHDC – more than just
funding
AHDC also introduced a ‘core offer’ for
disabled children, and changes to the way local areas have to
report to government on their services for disabled children
through a ‘disabled children’s national indicator’.
Core Offer
AHDC introduced a
‘core offer’ for families with disabled
children. The Core Offer is a national statement of expectations
setting the standards of services that families with disabled
children can expect from their local area. The core offer
covers:
- Information
- Transparency
- Assessment
- Participation
- Feedback
National Indicator
AHDC also introduced the
disabled children’s services national
indicator (National Indicator 54). Through a national
parental satisfaction survey, the indicator measures the
experiences of families using services and how these services are
delivered according to the five elements of core offer. It has been
adopted by some local authorities and PCTs as a performance measure
on service provision for disabled children.
Download our
supporter briefing on Aiming High for
Disabled Children (updated April 2009)
