More than half of parents struggle to find accessible holiday clubs for their disabled children, hitting family finances and forcing many to quit work altogether, according to a survey by a leading charity.
A “stark postcode lottery” dictates who is able to secure a place for their child, according to the national disability charity Sense, which found an estimated 60,000 disabled children are living in areas of England with no holiday club provision for them.
The charity sent a series of freedom of information (FOI) requests to every local authority in England last year. Of the 114 who responded, 11 (10%) offered zero holiday club provision, leaving 61,415 youngsters and their families scrambling for help.
In total, 57% of the 1,000 parents who took part in the survey said it was difficult to get a place in a holiday club. One in three (32%) said the situation meant they were financially worse off, of those a third (32%) had to reduce their working hours to look after their child, and almost a fifth (16%) had to leave employment.
The poll found the struggle to find cover during the holidays also affects wellbeing in parents, with a third (34%) experiencing poor mental health.
Melissa Mould, 44, and her husband Andrew Mould, 42, from Merton, south-west London, both work in TV production and are parents to six-year-old twins, Frankie and Otis, and two-year-old Remy.
Frankie has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair full-time. His mother said it was more difficult and expensive for him to attend holiday clubs, compared with his non-disabled twin.
“The logistics of organising summer holiday childcare are so complicated when you have a disabled child – it exhausts me mentally,” she said.
“There are endless holiday club options for Otis. For Frankie, there is nothing obvious that he can go to, even though we would be happy to send him to most types of clubs.
“I work part-time and we’re lucky that my mum lives close to the school and helps out. I know many families don’t have that support and I can completely see how people end up giving up work, because it’s just not financially viable once you factor in the extra costs.”
Natalie Thompson, 39, from Birmingham, works part-time as a freelance HR adviser and is a single parent to Azuriah, aged eight, who is autistic, non-verbal and has global development delay.
She said the long summer school holidays cause her financial and emotional anxiety. “There are so few holiday clubs that can meet my son Azuriah’s needs because he requires one-on-one support to keep him safe and happy.
“So I’m with him throughout the holidays, from first thing in the morning until last thing at night, nearly every day.
“I can’t work full-time because of my caring responsibilities and during the school holidays I can only work very limited hours. That hugely limits my employment options and affects us financially.
“The way school holiday care works for disabled children with complex needs like Azuriah is absolute madness. There should be a national framework, so disabled children get the support they need wherever they live – not this postcode lottery.”
Harriet Edwards, director of influencing at Sense, said: “Every child deserves the chance to spend the summer with friends, learning new skills and having fun. Yet too many disabled children are missing out simply because accessible holiday clubs aren’t available where they live.”
A spokesperson for the Local Government Association, the national membership body for councils in England, said: “Councils recognise the shortage of holiday childcare options for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send).
“We want to continue to work with government to ensure children get the support they need in the Send reforms, which must ensure those needs are met out of school as well as during term-time.”
