New research by disability charity Sense has revealed the huge delays parents face to be seen by children’s social services, with families at “breaking point”.

By law, disabled children are entitled to an assessment by children’s social services to identify their needs and ensure they receive the necessary support. This is a crucial step in securing support services such as home adaptations, support with personal care, and access to day centres.

Parents, however, say they are waiting more than 200 days for their child to be seen by a social worker, with 17 percent waiting over a year. Without an assessment, families are unable to get any support from their local authority. Nearly half of families say without this support they are struggling to cope, the charity underlines.

According to Freedom of Information data Sense has obtained from the UK Government, even when seen, many families experience a delay to receive the assessment outcome. In 18 local authorities, the length of assessments is more than the 45-day legal limit, with one local authority almost double the legal limit.

Sense’s new report, ‘From crisis to care – making social care work for disabled children’, highlights that every step of the process of securing support is a long, drawn-out process for parents.

Multiple assessments and prolonged delays are common, and even when families are granted support, local services are rarely available. Nearly a third of parents say they have been unable to access the support they need from children’s social services, and two in five who have been successful in securing social care support say they had to fight their case at tribunal.

The toll on parents is overwhelming, the charity emphasises, with 63 percent of parents telling Sense they are terrified further cuts will be made to their child’s care.

Sense’s research also reveals the financial strain on families, with the average disabled household spending £1,599 of their own money in the past six months to support their disabled child’s needs, equating to over £250 a month. With one in 20 families spending more than £5,000 in the past six months, many say they are turning to loans, credit cards, and crowdfunding to plug the gaps.

Social care can have a life-changing impact on disabled children, but Sense warns that the current system is underfunded, fragmented, and confusing. Research from the Disabled Children’s Partnership found a funding gap of £573 million in 2019/2020.

Parents have lost confidence in the government’s ability to address these issues, with 32 percent of parents believing there is any genuine intent to improve social care for disabled children.

There are 1.8 million disabled children in the UK, and in its new report, Sense calls for the law on children’s social care to be strengthened to support them. The report’s findings highlight outdated and ineffective laws, some of which date back more than 50 years. The charity wants to see a new legal duty introduced to assess all disabled children, streamlining the process for families and ensuring all children get the best start in life.

Sense is also calling on the government to provide long-term, ringfenced funding for the services disabled children need.

James Watson-O’Neill, Chief Executive of Sense, said: “Access to high quality support can be life changing – it is the difference between a child feeling lonely and left behind, and a child having the support they need to grow, learn and thrive.

“But the social care system is failing disabled children and leaving families at breaking point.

“Parents shouldn’t have to fight for the care their children deserve. We need urgent reform to ensure all children get the support they need without facing unacceptable delays.

“Disabled children should not be bearing the brunt of a broken system. We’re calling on the government to make disabled children a priority, by establishing a clear and consistent pathway to support and a national threshold to assess all disabled children. These must be backed by adequate funding and investment in local services.”

The Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, recently announced that care leaders will be trained to use the latest cutting-edge technology to improve patient care, free up staff time, and help people live independently in their own homes for longer.