“To ensure he continued to have stability in the family home, which had been adapted for his needs, we agreed that our interest in the family home would be transferred to this court-instructed trust of which he is the sole beneficiary.”
The blunder has cost Rayner her position in government. But before the outcome, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey implied his support of her – calling for an end to ‘soap opera politics.’
“I understand it is normally the role of opposition leaders to jump up and down and call for resignations – as we’ve seen plenty of from the Conservatives already,” Davey said.
“Obviously, if the ethics advisor says Angela Rayner has broken the rules, her position may well become untenable.
“But as a parent of a disabled child, I know the thing my wife and I worry most about is our son’s care after we have gone, so I can completely understand and trust that the deputy prime minister was thinking about the same thing here.
“Perhaps now is a good time to talk about how we look after disabled people and how we can build a more caring country.”
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Speaking exclusively to the Big Issue, Davey then doubled down on his comments.
“Parents of disabled children are constantly struggling with a broken system, fighting for their kids and worried about the future,” he told us.
“Most parents I speak to worry most of all, as my wife and I do, about who will look after our children when we are gone.
“The truth is that our politicians and the media do not want to think about the challenges disabled people and carers face and instead just want to treat politics as a soap opera. We must take every opportunity to remind the government we want action and real change if we want to build a more caring country.”
What is life like for disabled children and their families?
It’s unclear what the future holds for Rayner. But in the spirit of Davey’s plea, what is life like for the UK’s disabled children and their families?
There are more than 1.8 million disabled children aged 0-19 in the UK. Most face “significant discrimination and inequalities across all areas of their lives,” according to Contact, the charity for families with disabled children.
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A 2023 Disabled Children’s Partnership report – entitled Failed and Forgotten – found that just one in three disabled children get sufficient educational support, one in seven receive appropriate social care, and one in five obtain proper health services.
“Disabled young people are at high risk of social exclusion. Inadequate planning for transitions risks the breakdown in adult placements, reduced life opportunities and poor health and social outcomes,” DCP’s parliamentary submission read.
It’s a bleak picture, said Mikey Erhardt, Policy Lead at Disability Rights UK – and it is compounded by government failures. The politics around Rayner’s departure should not be a distraction from the “reality that exists for Disabled parents and Disabled children in this country,” he said.
“According to the DWP’s own figures, nearly half of all families with a Disabled child live in poverty. This is not by chance; costs for Disabled households are over £1,000 more per month, and the disability wage gap stubbornly persists.”
When disabled children become adults, there is often little assistance available for their care.
According to Sense, 1.7 million disabled people are supported by their friends and families. 75% have no plan for the day that support is no longer available.
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More than two thirds (67%) of carers have profound fears about what will happen to their relative when they are no longer able to provide care.
Two thirds of local authorities are unaware of how many disabled adults in their area are currently being cared for by family and friends at home. Meanwhile, Only a quarter of councils routinely provide support to make contingency plans for future care.
The government is under extreme scrutiny over Rayner’s taxation debacle. But the real focus should be the failures of our society to care for families with disabled children, Erhardt added.
“When restricted eligibility for carer’s allowance is combined with the punitive PIP claims process, it leaves families with the compounding barriers of lack of support and poverty,” Erhardt continued.
“Disabled children and young people are routinely failed by the education system, often not receiving the additional support they need to succeed.”
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