THE chairman of a children's club has made an empassioned plea for Essex County Council to demonstrate some Christmas spirit and fund respite care for disabled children.

Parents of 33 children with learning difficulties were left in despair after they were told funding for one-to-one care at Mistley Kids Club had gone.

The cost of the care was about £100 per child per session and families were allowed one day a week during the school holidays - a session described as a lifeline.

Dick Madden, the council's Cabinet member for adults and children, said the funding for the support had come from the Government's Aiming High programme but that had stopped in 2012.

Mr Madden said the council had tried to continue the funding - about £40,000 a year - but the pressures on the county council budgets meant it could no longer afford the discretionary service.

Now Rosemary Smith, the chairman of the club, has appealed to Mr Madden to think again.

She said: "Why do the worst off get hit the hardest?

“Why can’t Essex County Council find just £8,000 to send 33 desperately disabled children for one day each to a holiday club over Christmas?

"Most of the children who are funded by Social Services are fine.

"It’s just this group, the most severely disabled, who have had their funding cut."

Mrs Smith added: "OK, the money wasn’t ring-fenced, it wasn’t nailed down by statute, and give the council their due, they picked up half the tab when a Government programme was axed to save money some years ago.

"But the parents of these severely disabled children have come to rely on this one day a week in the holidays.

"One day a week when their children can meet with mainstream children, can learn to play with children less disabled than themselves, can be accepted by them.

"One day a week when the burden of constant care is taken from their families, and their brothers and sisters can have quality time alone with their parents.

"Suddenly this has been taken away from them. They are angry and distraught.

“I worry for these families. They’ve learned the hard way to be tough but the strain is immense."

Mr Madden said he added he appreciated the importance of respite care and he said he was actively searching for alternative solutions to help the families in need.