Reform councils to cut SEN spending

Reform MPs being massive twats?!!

Whoever would have thought??!! 🙄

Seriously people, CHECK THEIR VOTING RECORDS!

These people are NOT about improvements for the working people of this country!

It may happen now but I think assessments will be tougher and the fact it’s on their radar means they’ll be changes of some sorts .

You are so incredibly naive if you think this doesn't happen already.

They already have extensive assessments before any LA pays a penny.

I have one child with an EhCP, A 30k funding package and a full time 1-1. She is in the process of being moved to specialist.

I have another child with an EHCP, a 12k fundinf package and a shared TA.

My daughter is one of 2 out of 660 in her school who have dedicated 1-1s. Although every EHCP child has a named TA. That doesn't make them 1-1 TAs.

And that’s under labour , the supposed saviours of the vulnerable .

Also the Children’s Commissioner did a good study in 2021. In 2020 we had 1,370,000 send dc. There’s a description of the issues which still stand today. 2007 saw 80,000 in special schools, 128,000 in 2020. The high needs budget was £8 bn when the report was written and this has left mainstream schools short of money due to the massive increase in the high needs expenditure.

The report also highlights the poor outcomes for more vulnerable dc. Those with a social worker, on fsm or in care. It’s very much saying there’s a left behind class. The parents might well vote Reform. Their dc are left behind by the funds not being spent equitably.

Well that’s laughable. It’s nigh on impossible to get an Ed psych to assess for EHCPs let alone Ed psychs to assess the assessments parents are struggling to get.

I think if anything Reform will want assessments to really check children’s level of need . There’s a feeling that every child has some sort of ism these days , the volume of which we’ve never seen before .

Families don’t have spare cash. And again what happens to those kids whose families can’t or won’t pay?

But even asking to cover 10% of that is impossible for most people on normal incomes and that’s before covering the medication etc that you have said they should cover

That could go in Reform's favour though, they'd paint themselves as martyrs, the current government persecuting them.

But I’m not saying that you should be funding that £30k!

What I’ve said, repeatedly, is that there should be a contribution made by the families receiving those services. Whether that’s means tested or a sliding scale.

But that £30k is a lot of money, and it’s got to come from somewhere. And that’s just one child..

We have two TAs doing their best to provide the support. The poor children aren’t getting the best education they can but that’s not the schools fault, it’s the system which doesn’t cover things.

@Sirzy When I was working (in the dark ages) we didn’t provide that without a statement (as it was then). Schools just didn’t have the money! It’s utterly impossible to fund 5 extra staff. I did have a budget to provide temporary 1:1 pending special school place. Not all got one but it’s impossible for schools to provide this level of support now the budget is devolved to the schools. I could target it.

Well it is.

Only 4% of children have an EHCP and most of those don’t come with a 121.

Even the full 4% of 30 kids isn’t 3!

the number of people classified as vulnerable and needing high level support is so far beyond what it was even 20 years ago

Not according to the government’s official statistics. The latest SEN statistics
from 23/24 show there were 1,673,205 children and young people with SEN. According to government statistics around 1.5 million pupils had SEN in 2005.

That’s very rare indeed.

councils generally try hard to avoid wording EHCPs to provide any 1-1 let alone full time 1-1. If a child has that in their plan it is very much needed.

In the school I am in we have 5 children in the infants (1 form entry) who ideally need 1-1 but none of them have plans which actually fund it.

That is unusual.

Yep years of picking up the tab and trying to hold
down 2 jobs which have been massively impacted alongside trying to supporting our other dc with SEN.

My son’s EHCP comes with a funding package worth around £30,000 a year. That’s what the local authority have agreed is needed is year to legally meet his needs. How many parents could afford to fund that?

by arguing parents should pay is to argue only wealthy people are entitled to an education

I'm sure I'm not alone in already paying a fortune for my SEN children.

£104 per hour for a clinical psychologist as CAMHs utterly failed her.

£735 for a SALT report to get her much needed SALT.

£2-300 A time OT reviews to ensure school have updated advice

£30 for a 2 hour short breaks session

If i need holiday or wrap around care I have to pay for a 1-1 on top of the session price

I absolutely agree with you! It’s shocking that so many fall for it, but they are master manipulators praying on the gullible, lower educated, or people as hateful as them. I have people I know with disabilities or who are gay etc that seem to think reform are the best thing since sliced bread - until they come for them when it’s too late.

Very few children need or have 121s.