Charities urge government to ‘address gaps’ in SEND green paper

The organisations, led by the Together Trust, and including the Disabled Children’s Partnership, ICAN and Coram Family and Childcare, has urged ministers to ensure that changes to the current SEND system are co-designed with children and families and “address existing gaps in the green paper”.

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The letter comes following the closure of a consultation into recommendations made in the paper, which was published in March, and includes plans for digitised education, health and care plans and the introduction of set education options for parents to choose from.

It also focuses on greater inclusion for children with SEND in mainstream schools.

The recommendations have prompted the group to urge ministers to strengthen compliance with the law and ensure parental choice around education settings for children is retained.

It also calls for a greater focus on post-16 support and more flexible funding for SEND support.

“While the government’s SEND reforms were originally introduced to ‘improve an inconsistent, process-heavy and increasingly adversarial system’, we are concerned that the proposals in the green paper as they stand do not address the accountability gap and could worsen delays and access to support across the country”, the letter states.

Lucy Croxton, the Together Trust’s campaigns manager, said: “The current system is underperforming for children and their families, but the SEND proposals as they stand miss the mark. This joint letter demonstrates the will of organisations who support children with SEND to get reform right without cutting corners.”

DfE is expected to issue a response to the consultation by the end of the year.