Families with disabled children racked with debt

UK Families with severely disabled children are falling into debt and struggling to meet the costs of essential care due
to insufficient benefits, a Government-funded charity has warned.


A seminar at 11 Downing Street, chaired by Stephen Timms, the financial secretary to the Treasury, heard this week that the
typical family with a severely disabled child currently earns less than the national average and is facing heavy
debts.


Such families are forced to spend considerably more to cover the costs of special diets, housing adaptations and specialist
transport, the Family Fund said.


On average, it said, they spend ?6,710 a year more than they earn and are running up debts worth ?10,000 or more in order to
pay for their children's care.


Repayments on loans, credit cards and hire purchase by families with severely disabled children were 20 times the national
average, around ?60 a week, the seminar heard


The fund called for stricter controls on loan sharks and urged the Government to extend its anti-poverty measures to these
families as well as give them better childcare and child benefits.


"Families are routinely paying out more for their housing, food, transport and other needs despite earning less than other
households - and they can't keep it up," said Marion Lowe, chief executive of The Family Fund.


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