Nursery World - A Unique Child: Inclusion

Families with disabled children, already bearing the brunt of local authority cuts, are bracing themselves for losses under the welfare reforms. Sue Learner reports.

There are a lot of difficult things you have to deal with when you have a disabled child, but it is other people and their attitudes and bureaucracy that really make it difficult,' says Stacie Lewis, whose two-year-old daughter May has severe brain damage. Those difficulties look set to worsen as April sees the start of a raft of reforms to the welfare system that will result in the biggest shake-up of benefits for generations.

The changes include Working Tax Credit being frozen for lone parents and couples, a cap on housing benefit and reductions in the childcare element of Working Tax Credit. This will affect families of disabled children, who generally have higher childcare costs.

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