At a recent education select committee hearing, disability campaigners, including Dame Christine Lenehan representing the Special Educational Consortium and the Council for Disabled Children, pointed out that despite problems the SEND reforms enacted in the Children and Families Act 2014 had made progress.
The reforms are helping to put parents at the centre of the decision-making process, give a voice to children and foster better inter-agency working. The challenge is that these aspirations are often difficult to implement on the ground.
One parent giving evidence to the committee described how when he initially tried to get support for his child - who was later diagnosed as having autism - the local authority first put up a "wall of paperwork". In this case, the family chose to follow the tribunal route to access the best support for their child and are clear that because of their circumstances and resilience they were able to win their tribunal.
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