Campaign urges Prime Minister to resist attempts to 'weaken' SEND support
Neil Puffett
Monday, September 6, 2021
A campaign group has called on the Prime Minister to resist potential proposals to relax requirements on local authorities to provide support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), claiming that the ongoing review of SEND provision is likely to push for such a move.
Let Us Learn Too, established by four parents and backed by former government ministers, said it is concerned that the review has not involved meaningful consultation with parents and children.
It has also claimed that comments made by leaders of the SEND review indicate that parents are "being targeted as the cause of issues" within the system, and is warning that government measures put in place earlier this year indicate a future direction of travel of increasing the threshold for SEND support.
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The campaign group points to government "safety valve" agreements with five local authorities earlier this year whereby the government contributes high needs overspending in return for taking actions such as clarifying assessment thresholds for education health and care plans (EHCP), reducing the use of independent school placements, and support and drive schools to meet a higher level of need in a more cost effective way within mainstream settings - as a forewarning of future policy direction.
It is calling on Boris Johnson to "intervene and ask the Department for Education to reconsider its plans to change the laws governing school support for children with SEND", and is asking for disabled people and their parents or carers to be placed at the heart of the review.
Hayley Harding, co-founder of Let Us Learn Too, said: “Before my son was diagnosed with autism I would never have believed the fight that families have to go to just to enable their children to learn in England.
"The right laws are there but unfortunately many local authorities blatantly ignore them leaving many children unable to go to school. This review is the perfect opportunity to rectify this and introduce accountability. It’s unbelievable that the Department for Education is shutting disabled people and their parents/carers out. It’s not too late though and we are ready to help."
Gillian Doherty, founder of campaign group SEND Action, said that the first time she applied for support for her eight-year-old son who has Down's Syndrome it took almost a year and a half, four times the legal limit, and she is now having to apply for the third time, which has resulted in "huge gaps" in support and has left his school short of funding.
"Parents don’t want to have to fight to uphold their children’s rights," she said.
"They just want their disabled children to have the same opportunities as non-disabled children. Weakening the law is the wrong course of action. Our families live with the consequences of the failings in the SEND system and we know where the solutions lie. Please let us help.”
Latest government figures show that on 31 March 2021, the number of children with an EHCP was 325,618, up from 294,758 in March 2020, before the start of the pandemic. This is the highest level since EHCPs replaced statements of special educational needs in 2015/16.
In addition, the number of children assessed as needing SEN support has increased from 1,079,000 in 2019/20 to 1,083,083 in 2020/21.
The SEND review, which was announced by the Department for Education in September 2019, was due to be published last Autumn, but in July children's minister Vicky Ford said it was "still months away".