Wiltshire mum says respite care is a 'postcode lottery'

Willow, aged four, lives with mum Emily and grandma Rita

A mum says getting respite care for her child is a "postcode lottery."

Emily Diment, from Ansty in Wiltshire, says her four-year-old daughter Willow only gets funding for 15 hours of care per week despite her complex needs.

Willow is non-verbal, tube-fed, and has global delayed development, but is currently undiagnosed.

Wiltshire Council says it is in "regular contact" with families in the county who need care, to provide support.

Ms Diment says Willow should be funded for 30 hours of childcare per week as she has working parents.

But because Willow needs one-to-one care, Emily says Willow is only getting 15 hours, and no additional respite care.

Ms Diment said: "I just want what other kids and parents have. So to get the 30 hours a week that would be amazing, but I can't even get that."

She claims if she were living in another part of the country she'd get respite care, but hasn't been told what the criteria is by the authorities in Wiltshire.

Wiltshire Council is yet to respond to this claim.

Ms Diment continued: "The two key messages are that the care system, especially around here in the south of England, feels like a real postcode lottery.

"I've been asking social services until I'm blue in the face what their criteria is, and I can't find it online anywhere.

"Then it came out that because Willow doesn't have a diagnosis, she would never be eligible for any kind of support.

"It feels very discriminatory towards us, it kind of belittles what we're going through."

Willow's mum calls her a 'happy little soul'

Cllr Laura Mayes, Cabinet Member for Children's Services at Wiltshire Council, said: "We know there can be real challenges to caring for a child with disabilities and we are in regular contact with our families to provide support.

"While it's not appropriate to comment on specific cases, we work with families to determine how we can best provide that support - not just for the moment but for the future including looking ahead to starting school for example.

"We assess the child's needs and may provide respite care to meet that need, alongside other forms of support and care."

A spokesperson for the Department for Education spokesperson added: "This family's experience highlights exactly why we are working to create an improved system of support across education, health and care.

"Councils are responsible for providing the right support for children in their areas, but we know there is variation in how the system works across the country, which is why the proposals in our SEND and alternative provision green paper will create a fairer, more inclusive system.

"We have invested £30 million into the Short Breaks Innovation programme, to enable councils to test different approaches to providing this kind of support.

"Combined with our investment in a network of Family Hubs, more children and their families can access the comprehensive support they need."