MORE than 60,000 disabled children are living in areas of England with no summer holiday club options, according to new research from disability charity Sense.

One in 10 local authorities commissioned no holiday clubs at all for disabled children, leaving 61,415 youngsters to face the long break without support, the charity revealed yesterday. 

Freedom of Information requests found that only 6 per cent of disabled children across England can access holiday clubs.

More than half of parent carers said finding accessible holiday clubs was difficult, with a third saying the lack of provision had negatively impacted their family finances. 

Of those affected, 32 per cent had reduced their working hours and 16 per cent had left employment altogether. 

Some 34 per cent said the difficulty had negatively impacted their mental health.

Natalie Thompson, 39, a single parent from Birmingham, said the six-week holidays brought “financial anxiety and emotional anxiety” as she struggled to find affordable childcare for her eight-year-old son Azuriah, who is non-verbal autistic with global development delay. 

Private options cost up to £140 a session, while local authority provision cannot meet his complex needs.

“The way school holiday care works for disabled children with complex needs like Azuriah is absolute madness,” she said.

“There should be a national framework, so disabled children get the support they need wherever they live — not this postcode lottery.”

Sense is calling on the incoming prime minister to implement the Law Commission’s 2024 recommendation for a new national framework for disabled children’s social care, with statutory guidance and eligibility criteria to end the variation between local authorities.

Harriet Edwards, of Sense, said: “Disabled children have waited long enough for a system that works consistently. Now is the time to deliver it.”

Linda Burnip of Disabled People Against Cuts said: “For parents who need to work over the school holidays, the availability of holiday clubs is essential but very few are able to provide the level of support needed for disabled children and many aren’t physically accessible.

“Obviously this means parents can’t work leading to increased poverty. 

“This issue should be addressed by local authorities urgently.”