Children and young people with SEND: support for families and carers

That this House commends the extraordinary care that families and carers provide for SEND children and young people; recognises that the need to provide full time care during the covid-19 crisis has put families under chronic additional strain and pressure; notes that 50 per cent of families with disabled children are living in poverty and that Carer’s Allowance, at £67.50 per week, is insultingly low; believes that families and carers responsible for children and young people with SEND need increased support; therefore calls for SEND schools and centres to be given bespoke covid-19 guidance that meets the particular needs and behaviours of SEND children and young people, and acknowledges the specific adaptations and timescales required for a safe return to the schools and centres they attended before lockdown; and further calls on the Government to increase funding for good quality respite care centres and respite carers to alleviate the pressure on families, to recognise the extraordinary care that people provide in their own homes by paying carers a real living wage and giving them paid annual leave, and to bring forward a strategy to recruit more respite carers that recognises and pays them as professionals with specialist skills.