A recent government report has criticised the ‘bureaucracy, buck-passing, and confusion’ created by the current SEN legislation and gives new hope of reform to thousands of children with additional educational needs and their families.
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities report, follows an 18 month consultation, 70 witnesses, and over 700 submissions of written evidence to the Education Committee which aimed to review the ambitious government reforms contained in the Children and Families Act 2014. The committee heard accounts of young children with special educational needs who had suffered anxiety, depression, and self-harm due to their experience at school.
Whilst ambitious reforms were brought into force following the 2014 Act, the committee concluded that young people who need additional support at school were overwhelmingly being let down due to insufficient funding, poor implementation and accountability by overwhelmed local authorities, as well as a ‘treacle of bureaucracy’ leading to a system of conflict and despair.
Caroline Barrett, education law expert said: “the report acknowledges the struggle that families of children with special educational needs face in the current system. All children have the right to be supported in schools and to have their true potential recognised and maximised. It is encouraging that this report acknowledges the problems with the current system and the government should now take note and make substantive changes to improve it. There is currently a lack of funding within special educational needs as a whole and it will be important to see what changes will now be made as a result of the report.”
Some of the committee’s recommendations include:
- A more rigorous inspection framework for local authorities, with clear consequences for failure as well as a greater focus on SEN in school inspections
- A direct line for parents and schools to appeal directly to the Department for Education where local authorities appear not to be complying with the law
- Powers for the local government and Social Care Ombudsman to investigate complaints about schools
- The development of more employment and training opportunities for post-16 young people.
Robert Halfon MP, chair of the committee, also acknowledged the need for increased funding for SEN and the need for a culture shift in those responsible for delivering additional support.
Caroline comments: “we understand that it can sometimes feel impossible to challenge a government body, be it a school or local authority, when they are failing in their legal duties. The committee report shows the importance of pushing the government to take the rights of SEN children seriously and it will be interesting to see how the potential right for appeal to the Department of Education might develop. We have seen cases where the same local authority can make numerous flawed decisions, all of a similar nature, which currently need to each be individually appealed to the First Tier Tribunal. The ability to appeal to the Department of Education in circumstances such as this might provide a really useful alternative for parents to try and prevent bad practices in individual areas.”
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