Disabled children’s social care law in England – the Law Commission consults

The law on disabled children’s social care in England is currently governed by a patchwork of legislation, some of which dates back more than five decades. This has contributed to variation in the amount and quality of support provided by local authorities, and unnecessarily complicated routes to accessing support for the parents and care givers of disabled children.

The Law Commission project (to which I am a consultant) was recommended in the 2022 Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, which heard from families of disabled children struggling to understand what support they are entitled to and how to access it.

The Department for Education asked the Law Commission to undertake a review of the law, with the following objectives.

  • To recommend a solution to the patchwork of legislation that currently governs social care for disabled children.
  • To improve how the law on social care for disabled children fits in with the law relating to social care more broadly.
  • To review the outdated language and definitions underpinning the law on social care for disabled children.

The Commission is looking at the law and policy on social care for disabled children in England, including section 17 of the Children Act 1989 and section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970. The overarching aim of the review is to simplify and strengthen the law, ensuring that the system is fair and works for children, parents and other care givers, and local authorities. The review is focused on the provision of support and services in family-based care.

The Law Commission has today (8 October) published a consultation paper asking people to tell it about their experiences of the current system and setting out its provisional proposals on how it could be improved.  The Commission sets out its views on the current legal framework for disabled children’s social care and our provisional proposals on how the framework could be improved. The topics covered by the consultation include:

  • assessments;
  • eligibility;
  • how services are provided;
  • the transition to adult social care;
  • remedies;
  • the definition of disability;
  • advocacy and participation; and
  • whether a new legal framework is needed.

The Commission asks a number of questions within the consultation paper designed to find out more about how the current system is working in practice, as well as inviting views on our provisional proposals.

The Commission has also published a draft impact assessment alongside the consultation paper setting out our initial, provisional estimate of the potential costs and benefits of our proposals. The Commission invites views on the estimates and assumptions in this document to assist us in developing a final impact assessment.

The consultation is open until 20 January 2025.  The Commission encourages stakeholders to respond using the online form. The closing date for responses is  20 January 2025. It will use the responses to the consultation to develop final recommendations for reform, which ultimately will be published in a report. It expects that the report will be published in mid-2025.

A video featuring Professor Alison Young, the Law Commissioner for Public Law and Law in Wales explaining the consultation is here.

An animation is here

Documents

Terms of reference.

Disabled children’s social care consultation paper.

Summary of consultation paper.

Summary of consultation paper (large print version).

Summary of consultation paper (audio version).

Easy Read version of consultation paper.

Draft impact assessment.

Online response form.

Response form for the Easy Read version of the consultation paper. This is a separate response form for people who want to use the Easy Read version of the consultation paper to take part in the consultation.

The Law Commission has also published a separate research paper on deprivation of liberty in the context of disabled children’s social care.

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