New campaign urges Starmer not to diminish legal rights of Send children | Special educational needs
Keir Starmer is being urged not to reduce the legal rights of children with special educational needs in a new national campaign backed by actress Sally Phillips and a cross-party group of Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs.
Group Protect the Rights of Our Children The Prime Minister is “considering taking away our statutory rights” as part of the government’s overhaul of special educational needs and disability (Return) provisions, the Prime Minister claims in his upcoming schools white paper for England.
The coalition of campaigners includes Special Needs Forest parents group and Ipsea, which represents independent providers of special education advice, releasing a video directed at Starmer and a 130,000-signature petition to support the current statutory review and support for Send Children.
The coalition said a cross-party group of MPs, including Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper, Labor’s Neil Duncan-Jordan and Conservative Greg Stafford, would be on hand to support the petition, which was delivered to Downing Street on Monday.
The white paper is expected to be published soon and campaigners fear the government’s priority will be to reduce the rising cost of paying for special needs by changing the way children qualify for extra support.
Madeleine Cassidy, chief executive of Ipsea, said: “Children and young people with Syndrome need a system that works for them, supported by strong, enforceable legal rights. These rights are not optional, they are essential protections that ensure families can get the support their child needs to access education and thrive.
“Weakening the Send legal framework would leave families without these protections, leaving many parents unable to apply and risking undoing decades of hard-won progress towards inclusive and equitable education.”
In the video, Phillips, whose son Olly has Down syndrome, is seen alongside other parents, carers and children and young people with special needs telling Starmer that the current system is in crisis.
The video claims the government’s plans include “abolishing” education, health and care plans, known as EHCP. These are legal agreements between families and local authorities that detail additional support.
“Without legal rights, there is no guarantee that children like us will have access to education… This is not reform, it is injustice,” he says in the video, which ends with a direct appeal to Starmer: “Prime Minister, please, I beg you, protect our rights.”
The Guardian reported in October that EHCPs would be retained as part of the changes. But some fear the scope of the plans will be narrowed and parents’ rights to appeal to the courts will be removed.
The Department for Education wants more children, including those with autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, to be sent to mainstream schools in England. Send is spending £3bn to create more places in state schools for its pupils.
Under a proposed change, schools would be given a greater role in deciding levels of support, by contacting parents directly rather than through councils.
The government needs to address this issue urgently, as accumulated deficits in local authority high needs spending are predicted to reach £14bn by 2028. The number of EHCPs is expected to exceed the 639,000 recorded last year, putting further pressure on the council’s finances.
The DfE is hearing from parents and schools through online and regional meetings.
The department said: “We have launched the biggest national debate on Send in a generation, with plans being shaped directly by parents, the sector and the experts who know the system best. This engagement will drive reforms that protect what families value and fix what doesn’t work.”
