Autism charity launches petition to protect rights of children with SEND

Charity Ambitious about Autism has launched a petition urging MPs to use £2bn pledged to schools in the recent autumn statement to fund SEND support.

It also wants the government to address parental concerns over a recommendation in the review which offers families a specific choice of schools for their child.

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The petition states: “We’re concerned that some of the proposals will make it even harder for autistic children to access support in education, for example by limiting parents’ ability to choose a school for their child.”

The charity is also calling on government to:

• Uphold current laws that help children with SEND get the assessments, support, and school place they need, and protect their funding, to avoid making things worse and causing active harm to children and families.

• Make all education policy work for SEND pupils so they can achieve their potential, with a clear expectation that every school is a SEND school, every teacher is a SEND teacher, and every policy is a SEND policy.

• Publish a plan to develop a valued, skilled, sufficient SEND workforce, backed by resources, with clear timescales.

• Ask Ofsted to make the quality of SEND support a greater priority in inspections.

• Gather and share evidence on how mainstream education and special schools and colleges can work together to get children the right support, at the right time, in the right place.

The petition comes after the results of a survey, carried out by Ambitious about Autism, found that 65 per cent of parents were not happy with their autistic child’s mainstream education and more than a third of autistic young people had been out of education against their wishes. 

Jolanta Lasota, chief executive of Ambitious about Autism, said: “The special educational needs system is broken – the government knows this and so do thousands of families who are at crisis point across the country.  

“But we fear that key aspects of the government’s SEND review will result in more pain for families, putting at risk current laws that help children with SEND get the assessments, support, and school place they need.  

“There are over 125,000 more pupils receiving help for autism in schools now than in 2010. As more pupils come through the SEND system, we must make sure there is the resource and funding to support them. 

“We can’t risk making things worse and writing off autistic young people before they’ve even left school. That’s why we are calling on decision-makers to listen to autistic young people and their families and protect the existing laws and funding they rely on.”  

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has announced that the government’s response to the SEND review, which was published in March, will be delayed until early next year.