Cuts hit protected education services for deaf children

In launching its Save Services for Deaf Children Campaign it has released research showing that 28 councils have already made cuts to their education services and a further 24 are considered at risk of making cuts.

In Thurrock, for example, an early years teacher for deaf children has been cut as well as £20,000 from the deaf children’s education budget.

The charity’s research found that most councils (96 per cent) making cuts did not consult parents, despite being legally required to.

Much of the information had to be retrieved from councils under a Freedom of Information request, as the charity "faced resistance" from them to disclose the level of cuts to services.

NDCS chief executive Susan Daniels said: "We are appalled at these widespread cuts to vital education services for deaf children across the country. It is unacceptable that it has fallen on charities and parents to find out about cuts to services for these vulnerable children and we are calling on the Secretary of State to launch an investigation and explain why frontline services are being cut from budgets he said would be protected.

"The support being taken away is not an optional extra, it is absolutely crucial for deaf children’s learning and development, particularly as they are already underachieving compared to other children."

She added that the charity would support families wanting to launch a legal challenge against the cuts.

Latest figures show that 65 per cent of deaf children in England fail to get five GCSE grades A*- C.

A spokesman for Thurrock Council said that the teacher post that had been lost was because "specific government funding for the post ended and the council was unable to find alternative funding".

He added: "However, to compensate, Thurrock Council has rearranged its services for deaf children, launching an initiative of nursery classes for young deaf children at the Warren Primary School."

A DfE spokesman said: "Local authorities have a statutory duty to identify children’s special educational needs (SEN) and provide the services to meet them – no ifs and buts.

"We’ve protected schools' cash levels nationally and made sure local authorities can maintain specialised SEN provision – the best possible settlement considering the dire public finances. We expect local authorities target resources at the most vulnerable children, who need the most support, including deaf and hearing impaired children."

He added that funding for deaf children's education services is within the dedicated schools grant and it is for councils to decide how that should be allocated.