A couple who care for physically disabled children in their Bradford home have been given a civic seal of approval.

Bally Singh and his wife Parveen Kumari have been caring for youngsters in their home at Odsal for eight years.

The are link carers for Bradford social services' Shared Care Scheme, which provides short-term care for people with disabilities so their parents or other carers can take a break.

A £22,000 extension built onto the couple's Staygate Green home was officially opened on Saturday by the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Ghazanfer Khaliq. He said: "This is an excellent scheme and a chance for people to move from home to home instead of into institutionalised centres. We could do with more schemes like this in the city."

The ground floor of the house - which is one of three built in the Bradford area for disabled care purposes - has been extended and adapted with money from the National Carers Grant.

There are 350 link carers across the Bradford district.

Mr Singh, 36, said: "My wife has been working with disabled children for about 12 years. Eight years ago we joined the Shared Care scheme.

"We really want to help parents take a break from looking after their children. These parents do a fantastic job on a permanent basis. They need breaks.

"It is also a chance for the children themselves to move into a loving and new environment which is secure and safe, but homely.

The couple, who have three children of their own - Lokesh, four, Amrit, eight, and 12-year-old Radhika - plan to look after between eight and 10 children. Each child will stay with the family separately on numerous day and weekend visits during the coming months.

"This is all about people in the community helping others in the community, rather than professionals doing it," said Geoff Green, Shared Care's manager.

He added: "The scheme has proved popular with Asian people with disabilities, as they can stay with carers on the same cultural level in terms of language, religion and even food habits.