Impact of EDCM Campaigns
EDCM has run many successful campaigns with the help of our
supporters. Have a look at the list below to find out more.
Disabled Children's rights - April
2011
In April 2011, the Government's Department for Communities and
Local Government (DCLG) ran a consultation asking the
public to tell them what duties there should be on local
authorities to provide services. Some of the duties they were
asking about covered services for families with disabled
children and children with special educational needs. If these
duties were taken away, disabled children would not have the legal
right to services and support. Over 1300 of EDCM's supporters
wrote to Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and
Local Government, and his department saying how important it was
that these duties were retained. This prompted a positive response
from DCLG stating that they will not be removing the duties on
local authorities for disabled children's services. It read:
"Until now, there has been no comprehensive list of the
legal duties placed on councils. To remedy this, the Government
agreed with the Local Government Association (the national body
representing councils) that we should compile such a list so that
everyone is clear what legal obligations local councils have and
check whether the duties are still relevant. There is no
implication that any particular duty on the list is being
considered for removal, and there is certainly no intention
to remove the duties on councils with respect to support for
disabled children and children with special educational
needs."
Disability Living Allowance - February
2011
In February 2011, 900 EDCM supporters responded to the DLA
consultation raising concerns that PIP proposals would have a
negative effect children and families if extended to under 16s. The
Government's DLA consultation response confirmed that:
- Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will not be extended to
disabled children in 2013/14.
- The Government will only look at transferring children onto PIP
when they can ‘demonstrate it provides a fairer, more objective and
more transparent alternative to the current arrangements’.
- The Government recognises that a specific assessment should be
developed to ensure that the needs of children with long-term
health conditions or impairments are properly considered.
- That under 16s will not be onto PIP without a public
consultation and any decisions made will be subject to
Parliamentary scrutiny
- The £1billion cut in spending on DLA will not apply to under
16s.
Funding allocations - November 2010/ January
2011
There was no clear announcement in the 2010 HM Treasury Spending
Review about the level of funding for disabled children’s services.
Therefore EDCM supporters emailed their local MP and asked
them to write to Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education and
Andrew Lansley, Secretary of State for Health, to request a clear
statement to be sent to local authorities and Primary Care Trusts
on funding for services for disabled children and their families
beyond March 2011.
Following successful campaigning by EDCM supporters, in December
2010, the Government announced that they will be giving
local authorities £800million over four years to fund short breaks
for disabled children. You can read more in our
press release.
Following this, in January over 2000 EDCM
supporters took action and asked their local area how much
money each area were spending on short breaks and other disabled
children's services in 2011/12. Worryingly, some areas
confirmed that they will be making cuts to the services that they
provide for disabled children despite the investment.
Furthermore, although so many supporters got involved and emailed
their local area, the the vast majority of Councils
ignored calls from EDCM supporters and Mumsnet posters to
provide information on budgets. Out of 152 LAs in England,
approximately 70% were not able to provide information.
Mumsnet nappy campaign – August 2010
Mumsnet and EDCM joined forces and asked supporters to email
David Cameron about limits Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) place on the
number of nappies for disabled children. Over 500 EDCM supporters
and Mumsnetters took action and emailed David Cameron.
This prompted a positive response from the Prime Minister who
has highlighted to PCTS that: ‘Pads (nappies) should be
provided in quantities appropriate to the individual’s continence
needs. Arbitrary ceilings are inappropriate’. You can read
more in our press
release. A new action relating
to this was launched in October - find out more!
EDCM Parliamentary Reception – July 2010
Over 1000 EDCM supporters took action to invite
their local MP to our Parliamentary event at the House of Lords.
The event saw the launch of EDCM’s new briefing ‘Disabled children:
an agenda for the new government’, and gave the new coalition
Government the chance to respond to our recommendations.
The event was a huge success, with excellent speeches from a
disabled young person and a parent of a disabled young person.
Sarah Teather MP, Minister for Children and Families also set out
the government’s vision for disabled children. You can find out
more by reading our news
story.
Disabled children’s manifesto for change – manifesto
lead – January 2010
Before the General Election 2010, EDCM asked its supporters to
email their local MP and ask their party’s Manifesto lead to read
the Disabled children’s manifesto for change and consider the
recommendations.
In response to this, all three parties invited a group of young
disabled people on the CDC Steering Group to meet with them and
discuss any issues. The meeting was with key Ministers as well as
the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative Party Manifestos
leads. You can read more about the Labour, Liberal Democrat and
Conservative meetings
in our news stories.
PCT Statements – November 2009
Following a Government mandate, by 30th September 2009, Primary
Care Trusts (PCTs) were supposed to publish a statement about how
they were spending the £340 million they were given to improve
services for disabled children and children with palliative care
needs. Very few did, so EDCM asked our supporters to email their
PCT and ask for a copy of the statement. Nearly a third of PCTs
sent us their statements. You can read more about the campaign work
we’re doing around health here.
Party conferences – September 2009
At the Party Conferences in Autumn 2009, EDCM held events to
launch the Disabled
children’s manifesto for change; a publication that
was developed in partnership with disabled young people. It set out
what they wanted political parties to do in order to make things
better for disabled children and young people. An accompanying
film
was also produced.
EDCM asked it’s supporters to email their local MP and ask them
to attend our events at the party conferences. As a result, we had
a high turnout at all three conferences, and the Disabled
children’s manifesto for change was received very positively by all
the parties.
Health Early Day Motion – June 2009 and EDCM Health
reception – May 2009
These two actions together had over 1500
supporters getting involved, and emailing their MPs to support a
Health Early Day Motion, and attend a Parliamentary
reception at the House of Commons. Both actions were timed for the
launch of ‘Disabled
children and health’, a briefing that set out
recommendations for health authorities to ensure disabled children
and their families received health services that met their needs.
You can read more in our news
story.
