Family Fund Conference season round up 

If you’ve seen anything from the conferences this year, you’ve more than likely seen the big ticket speeches and headline announcements. While these are important to understand each party’s top policy priorities, the more valuable part of conferences are the smaller fringe events and coffee conversations that help us build relationships, share evidence and ask important questions.  

We headed to conferences to introduce Family Fund to parliamentarians and get the experiences of families raising disabled children into conversations about how to tackle the big issues facing the country. 

There were four main important issues this year: 

Cost of living  

This is a topic at the forefront of everyone’s mind at the moment and, at conferences, it was no different. All four nation governments are keen to bring out policies on the issue and opposition parties are forming their alternatives.  

We showcased evidence that many families raising disabled children continue to face significant additional costs every month, including high levels of debt, with fewer opportunities to increase income. It’s so important right now to highlight the reality of these pressures and the need for policies that help families achieve greater financial security. 

Better support for carers  

Social care was of course a big conversation at the Labour Party Conference and was a core part of Andy Burnham’s speech, but it was something we spoke about at all the conferences we went to.   

Families repeatedly tell us that accessing the right support can be challenging, whether that is childcare, short breaks, social care or specialist services. These forms of support do more than meet immediate needs. They help families maintain wellbeing, participate in work and education, and spend quality time together. 

Conference season provided an opportunity to show how important it is to recognise and supporting the vital caring role families play, while also ensuring that services work effectively alongside them.  

Transition to adulthood  

Concerns about the number of young people who are not in employment, education and training (NEETs) are increasingly prominent, so it wasn’t surprising that it came up repeatedly across conferences. 

For Family Fund, however, this sits within a wider challenge – the barriers many disabled young people face as they transition from childhood into adulthood. Throughout conversations on the topic, we highlighted the importance of effective support to help disabled young people access education, employment and training opportunities. We also showed the broader pressures families face during this period- navigating changes in health services, social security and social care. 

Childcare Fringe at SNP conference 

One of the highlights of this year’s conference season was hosting a fringe event at the SNP conference focused on our latest findings on childcare for disabled children in Scotland. 

We were delighted to have the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise, Siobhan Brown, speaking out our event. The discussion reinforced what many families have told us-that, while childcare is important to access work and improve parent and child wellbeing, disabled children and their families often face additional challenges to finding accessible, available provision that’s able to meet their needs. It was great to hear the Minister commit to involving families with disabled children, including those with complex needs, in shaping Scotland’s childcare policy.  

We attended conference season to listen, build relationships and bring families’ experiences into policy discussions. We left encouraged by the engagement we received across the political spectrum and determined to turn those conversations into meaningful change for families raising disabled and seriously ill children right across the UK.