To think the level of state involvement many posters expect is bonkers?

Well it's even more wrong that provision is so area dependent in a country with a national tax-transfer system. At least in America you can see why it is.

My Borough (by its own figures) "exports" 25% of its SEN DC.

I think benefits in general should be stopped after 1 year of job hunting. That’s plenty, if you can’t find a job in that time then it’s on you.

Regardless of the reason WHY you can't find a job?

The figures are fine, no problem with the figures.

Good. Regardless of reasons, of which there will be many, you can see you were incorrect, it’s higher now than 40 years ago

Read the post above yours. It’s all there.

Not really no. Generally speaking the people being used as examples in the post don’t go on to raise net contributors. It’s pointless having more people if they aren’t going to contribute.

A lot of the current work force aren't net contributors. From what I remember you need to earn around 40k to be considered one. That's just taking into account benefits and not things like healthcare,education etc. I'm sure hospitals, schools, councils , supermarkets and other essential services would've been so much better off if they weren't around, right?

We do have some high quality SEN provision my son is 14 and hoes to an excellent SEN school and has gone since reception the problem Is that much like Americs its hit and miss in my LEA we have four special schools ,two primary and two high schools, we also have several autism hubs

But it's area dependent and I'm aware that my LEA is better than most.

And that's before we get into e.g. the North East, Cornwall, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland etc receiving more government spending than they raise in tax.

You clearly don't teach classes of 5 year olds in 2024 then!

The difference between the UK and the US regarding school funding is that the taxes for schools in America are locally gathered and spent, so an area with a high tax take can fund the kind of high quality service that @mathanxiety describes.

No doubt there are parts of America with much worse provision. To give one example, when the motor industry in Detroit collapsed, so did local pensions, healthcare and education.

In the UK we have a much more centralised system so for example, I would guess that if my relatively affluent outer London suburb were allowed to spend the income tax and council tax gathered here, we too could also have high quality SEN education, but we don't, as some of it is transferred to the poorer inner London suburbs.

So it's comparing apples and oranges.

Schools can. In various schools local to me parents have been banned from the premises for various lengths of time for different reasons. Some parents have restrictions on school communication. Some parents only talk to teachers if a member of SLT is also present.

Gosh, torybotsRus have started early today. Or is it reform4u?

And to add to that ,in his school.he has access to OT ,speech therapists ,he regularly swims in the hydro pool as it helps regulate him ,this is an LEA school in the northwest of England

My son is severely autistic he goes to a special school, he also gets transport to and from home ,he also gets breakfast at school not because I cant be bothered to feed him but because the school.are very aware that their pupils have complex needs and many children WONT eat before school
I'm an a Facebook group for parents of children with severe autism and learning disability it's an American group but has members from all over the world
From what I read special education in America is much like the UK very hit and miss .

Not really no. Generally speaking the people being used as examples in the post don’t go on to raise net contributors. It’s pointless having more people if they aren’t going to contribute.

This is the third time I have posted this if you actually read the article it's by shona Sibary who is famous for writing controversial articles in the daily mail to get people frothing
She also appears to have entirely missed the point as she talks about her child being in night time nappies just before school started which has absolutely no bearing on school and its also not uncommon for children of four / five to wear pull ups at night.

Oh, your OP talked about support for families/children.

No understanding of what the welfare state is - you just mean you want to cut benefits currently paid to those in highest need?

The figures are fine, no problem with the figures.

Wages were higher 40 years ago.

Has anywhere managed it? Apart from the country in which they are registered

I think you are seeing your statement was incorrect.

State dependency is higher now than 40 years ago. If ONS are using these figures then it’s ok by me.

This won't make me popular, but it's something I've come to think after many years of working in the public sector...

We are told not to be judgmental. Yes, this country is a better place than it was 70 or more years ago in because LGBTQ people and, for eg, single parents, are no longer stigmatised and that is great.

I'm not talking about that kind of judgmentalism - I mean the 'lack of personal responsibility' variety. The message comes over so strongly these days that no-one should be judged, and I think it's dangerous for society as a whole. There's at least one generation of people (maybe 2) who've been given the green light that nothing is ever their fault. Some egs:

TV documentary about people who'd been 'romance scammed'. These people had been warned several times by family, friends and their banks, but still went ahead and gave vast amounts to their scammers, then expected help! The whole message of the programme was 'don't feel bad - it could happen to anyone and your situation is totally understandable'.

People who've had tattoos and other procedures who then expect the NHS to reverse these things free of charge. No -they're not life-threatening, so please save up yourself.

And the most glaring and damaging aspect of this ideology: schools! It seems that parents and children are always right, and the school always wrong. It's now incredibly difficult to remove a student from school and parents know this. I've been in many schools when vile parents have come in and verbally and physically attacked staff members with absolutely no consequences - the poor teachers couldn't even tell them to F off! Why can't schools take a more high-handed approach to awful parents and put them in their place? I just cannot understand it. And why is no govt, of any type, ever prepared to blame parents?? Oh, and the phrase 'school has failed this child' - so annoying! I bet the school is the only agency which hasn't failed the child in many cases. I'll I'm surprised there are any teachers left standing in some schools.

All societies need to set standards and 'judgmentalism' is a vital part of that. Any anthropologist will tell you that we need them. It may be too late now to inculcate the idea that we are responsible for ourselves and should take the blame for bad behaviour.