UK Disability Resource of Disabled Needs

EDCM is calling today for specific action by government to end child poverty for families with disabled children.

Disabled children and child poverty, the new EDCM briefing, highlights the additional costs and income penalty facing families with disabled children.

EDCM wants all our supporters to take part in the Campaign to End Child Poverty by emailing the Prime Minister - and including our demand for a DLA take-up campaign.

It costs three times as much to bring up a disabled child compared with other children, and childcare costs for disabled children are up to five times as much. Families with disabled children are both 50 per cent more likely to be in debt than other families, and 50 percent less likely to be able to afford essentials like new clothes or school outings.

To address this, EDCM is calling for:
* A major take-up campaign on Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
* An increase in the childcare element of working tax credit to £300 per week
* An increase in DLA to meet the real cost of caring for a disabled child

Steve Broach, EDCM Campaign Manager, comments:
'It is scandalous that in 2007, families with disabled children are forced to choose between going into debt or going without. We want government to prove that disabled children are at the heart of the efforts to end child poverty by committing to a major take-up campaign on DLA.