Is Starmer prepared to launch mother of all battles with SEND parents after his humiliating welfare reform climbdown?
THE Government can’t say we didn’t warn them.
For years mums and dads of children with special educational needs and disability (SEND), like me, have flagged that the system meant to support our kids is broken.
And we have asked ministers to listen to the real experts in SEND — families and young people themselves — about what should be done to fix it.
The issue exploded this week after Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson failed to deny rumours that education, health and care plans (EHCPs) are being ditched.
This is kryptonite for parents because if EHCPs go, our worry is that so do the legal rights of disabled children.
That means hundreds of thousands of kids could lose the help they need to learn and live.
After the humiliating climbdown over welfare reform, is the Government really prepared to launch the mother of all battles with parents who are already in fight-or-flight mode after being gaslit by councils?
Cost-cutting exercise
And also with MPs who are either SEND parents themselves or are inundated with SEND issues from constituents?
EHCPs are legal documents written by experts such as educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, teachers and doctors.
They set out what the targets are for a child who might be physically disabled or has a condition such as autism, or be deaf or blind.
The EHCP describes what help they might need to achieve those targets, who will provide the help and who will pay for it.
Provision is agreed by a child’s local authority, school, parents and the child themselves if they are old enough.
EHCPs are really hard to qualify for and most are asked for by schools, rather than parents.
With school and local authority budgets stretched to breaking point, head teachers know that the funding that comes with EHCPs is often the only way they can educate what is now a large number of pupils in each class.
Some children only need the education part of that plan, perhaps so that they can have one-to-one support from a teaching assistant.
Others, like my daughter, require more help. In her case, a special needs school, a wheelchair, a walking frame, speech and language therapy and physiotherapy.
We’ve faced enormous battles just to get Elvi, now 23, the right schools, college and equipment despite her complex needs and her EHCP.
Fighting on her behalf took up so much of my time I had to step down from a job I loved.
Phillipson’s mantra of “inclusive mainstream” is an admirable goal for many children but only works if schools are truly inclusive and can be held to account if they are not. Sam
I would still defend to the death her legal right to have ordinary things like an education, a chance to make friends and enough assistance to learn and live well.
So how have we ended up with what is a necessary document for more than 600,000 vulnerable children dragging Labour into a potential confrontation with backbenchers and voters?
Because for all the world this looks, from the outside, like a cost-cutting exercise rather than a proper rebuilding of a system that no one argues is in need of reform.
The number of children requiring help to learn has risen since Covid, with speech and language issues and social and emotional problems rising more than most other conditions.
But the problem here is not the plans. That’s looking down the wrong end of the telescope.
It’s giving schools and councils resources to obey the existing law.
To be fair to Bridget Phillipson some of the ideas she has already implemented are good.
Early intervention for children? Tick. Training in SEND for all teachers? Tick. Making school buildings more accessible? Tick.
The worry is that these steps are being put in place piecemeal.
Phillipson’s mantra of “inclusive mainstream” is an admirable goal for many children but only works if schools are truly inclusive and can be held to account if they are not.
Parents have been so undermined, denied and frequently lied to by authorities that all trust has gone.
Expecting families to believe that things will get better while taking away legal rights is a gamble we are not prepared to take.
Family breakdown
So the same bear traps that led to the U-turn on welfare lie in wait for ministers.
Lack of meaningful consultation with those most affected by the changes and no impact assessment, giving the impression that reforms are being rushed through.
I believe Bridget Phillipson when she says she wants to lift children out of poverty and give every child the best chance in life.
The Government must learn the lessons of the welfare bill. Some public funding IS expensive because it has to be. Sam
But if these reforms go ahead without mainstream nurseries, schools and colleges being trained and resourced to welcome more SEND children, she risks more families falling into poverty because parents can’t work.
The Government must learn the lessons of the welfare bill. Some public funding IS expensive because it has to be.
But if you put in the right legally guaranteed support at the right time you will save on costly interventions later on.
You will give those young people who can, the skills and opportunity to work and you will prevent family breakdown.
Engagement needs to be more than lip service.
Talk to MPs and organisations that work on the ground and know their stuff.
Most importantly, talk to families who know what must be done to create a system that works for all children.
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