According to the latest survey of parents from the Department for Work and Pensions, about 12 per cent of children are now living with a long-term illness, disability or impairment. That is almost double the equivalent figure in 2015, when roughly 7 per cent of parents reported the same. Almost two thirds of the children with a disability are now categorised as having a “social” or “behavioural” impairment.
Given the alarming scale of the increase, it is vital that ministers properly understand what is driving it, particularly the large proportion of social or behavioural impairments. As this newspaper argued at the time, the Covid lockdowns were bound to have a detrimental impact on the physical and particularly mental health of young people. At a formative time in their lives, they were shut out of school and prevented from socialising normally with their friends. Indeed, researchers have since found that the lockdowns set back children’s development by years.
Children are also having to contend with the impact of social media, which has led countries such as Australia to impose a total ban for under-16s. It remains to be seen whether this will be workable in practice, but it is widely accepted that excessive exposure to the internet can be highly disruptive to young minds.
Some will be inclined to make this a matter of money, given the wider increase in the number of adults claiming disability benefits. It is of course incumbent on ministers to ensure that the support system is structured so that the right level of help goes to the right people – to the remarkable parents who make extraordinary sacrifices for the sake of children with disabilities.
But we should also be asking two even bigger questions: why does this generation of children appear to be so much unhealthier than the last one? And what are we going to do about it?