Enka Platu has been hit hard after she was forced to leave her teaching job to care for son Mateo (Image: Contact)
Parents with disabled children are losing more than £20,000 a year on average from their family incomes after being forced to work reduced hours or quit their jobs to care for their kids, research shows.
Disability charity Contact is calling for the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy to recognise that families caring for children with physical or mental disabilities are being forced out of the labour market and into hardship.
Contact’s Counting The Cost report shows 62% of parent carers have given up work or reduced hours – on average losing £21,174.
Together with rising energy bills, the cost-of-living crisis and the expense of getting a diagnosis, therapies and help at school, many families with disabled children are left in a precarious financial situation.
The charity surveyed 4,262 families with disabled children in the UK, also revealing that 43% had gone without heating; 32% of parent carers went without food for themselves; a third of disabled children (33%) missed out on therapies and one in five (23%) went without specialist equipment and home adaptations in the last year.And half of families have got into debt or borrowed money in the last 12 months to pay for basics. On average parents are paying an extra £322 a month due to their child’s condition.
The findings are being launched in Parliament today by Ben Coleman. The Labour MP for Chelsea and Fulham said: “I know from working with disabled children and their families the extra costs they face and the difficulties that brings. It’s essential to give families with disabled children the opportunity to speak about the changes they want to see – whether that’s a chance to take part in paid work, better social care or educational support, or help with energy costs.
Anna Bird of Contact says families with disabled children are among the poorest in Britain (Image: Contact)
“The Child Poverty Strategy is a real opportunity to make a difference to children up and down the country.”
International Day of Persons with Disabilities was marked yesterday and the Daily Express is supporting the Represent The 24% campaign, reflecting the fact disabled people make up nearly a quarter of the population.
Contact’s research also showed a third of parent carers became unwell because of the pressures.
Enka Plaku, 43, from Hertfordshire, whose son Mateo, 12, has autism, a chromosome disorder, global developmental delay, ADHD and seizures, said: “Due to being fined for overpayment of Carer’s Allowance and the lack of after-school clubs for children with additional needs, I made the decision to leave my job as a teacher.
“Becoming a carer has not only affected my financial situation, but also my emotional and mental health. Teaching was my pride and joy.”
Anna Bird, of Contact, said: “Disabled children live in some of the poorest households in the UK. Many are faced with impossible financial choices. The Government needs a child poverty strategy that recognises the unique costs coupled with employment challenges that families with disabled children experience.”
Contact is calling for an energy social tariff for critically ill children; breakfast clubs and childcare options; support for disabled children through schools, social care and health; and a benefit check for every parent carer.