Government invites Law Commission to examine how legislative ‘patchwork’ affects access to support for children and their parents, with a view to making system fairer and more effective.
The ‘outdated’ legal framework on social care for disabled children in England will be reviewed with a view to making it fairer and more effective.
The Department for Education has asked the Law Commission for England and Wales to review the “patchwork of legislation” for the group, dating back to 1970.
The review was a commitment in the DfE’s draft children’s social care implementation strategy, published in February, in response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.
In its final report, the care review said the current framework was “outdated”, involved a “patchwork of duties” that sat across multiple pieces of legislation, making it harder for both families and professionals to understand disabled children’s legal entitlements to support.
DfE criticisms of current law and aims for review
The DfE echoed this in its strategy, adding that the current framework led “both to variation in the services provided and to confusing, often safeguarding-focused routes to accessing support”.
According to the Law Commission, children’s minister Claire Coutinho has set it the following objectives for the review:
- 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 children’s social care more broadly.
- To recommend a route to review the outdated language and definitions underpinning the law on social care for disabled children.
It said its overarching aim was to “simplify and strengthen the law, ensuring that the system is fair and works for parents, care givers and local authorities”.
The commission will now develop terms of reference and a timeframe for the project.
Source: ‘Outdated’ law on social care for disabled children will be reviewed – Community Care
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