Reform councils to cut SEN spending

I personally think that when some of these reform councillors actually get into the role they’ll realise how fucked up everything is.

Helping children regulate themselves is not babysitting. And yes some young people need someone physically there to stop them harming themselves and others. Call it babysitting if you like

But there are not enough of them, people dont want to be employed on term time contracts for only 6 hours a week to get hit and kicked and be viewed as a 'baby sitter'

Are they under the impression Reform will increase SEN spending then?

TAs in my experience sit next to an SEN child 'babysitting'. Often that means the child becomes more excluded and certainly doesn't help them progress. Properly trained and used TAs are wonderful. But they are few and far between.

My son has full time 1-1, we fought to get it in his EHCP in a way it couldn’t be argued! Because he has that provision he is now in year 10 and mainstream and looking likely to do ok in his GCSEs. Without that there is no way he would cope in mainstream education.

TA support is essential to a lot of children, sadly schools often don’t have the funds to use them effectively across the board but they do make a massive difference.

sen funding already basically doesn't exist in my area anyway.

What do you mean by 'used effectively'

TA's are often filling in for teachers which isnt using them effectively if they are meant to be a child's 1-1, but equally we dont have enough teaching staff, so until thats fixed that will continue. There are also not enough TA's because for every child which is supposed to get a 1-1, we're often told by schools that its not a 1-1 for that child specifically, its a TA in the room providing 1-1 to several children.

I don't support this. However there does need to be a conversation about how much is reasonable to spend on things like taxis to school, TAs. In my experience TAs don't work. They could work if used effectively but at present it's mostly a waste of money. I think people would be shocked if they saw the actual figures. That said to simply cut provision rather than review and restructure it in an attempt to improve it is wrong.

Well your council will need to watch out. Parents have successfully sued the council near me due to inadequate provision, so they are now investing in more SEN provision.

He would though given the chance. He is very openly far right. Given that the extreme far night murdered thousands of disabled people in concentration camps we can't be surprised that he is going to treat people with disabilities poorly.

The majority of SEN provision is statutory so it cant be cut in that way

I also believe, based on the service users I work with, that SEN families would have constituted a high number of Reform voters. Turkeys voting for xmas. The most vulnerable in society have voted for hard line, right wing (more right wing) policies because they think their own special cause is being overrun with other special causes and feel disgruntled.

Its like the vast majority of those voting for Brexit were people who relied on some way shape or form on the EU and its protections and income.

This group gives us an indication and we vote accordingly. It really works. Maybe a collective of residents could set up something similar where you live.

https://www.southdevonprimary.org

What a surprise. Farage loves Trump so a quick look at what is happening in the US gives a fair idea of the Reform agenda. Vote for a populist get populist policy.

This looks like alarmist reporting. I’d ask the local council directly.

It already isn't fully funded, and funding to education as a whole has been cut in the past year. Yes, they can't stop it, but they can reduce it under the premise of balancing budgets. I work within an NHS team supporting children with disabilities, and we have been told to reduce our budget by 10% this year, as has my husbands council department.

Unsurprising. Reform are very coy about their actual policies but in essence i undertand they want to follow Trump in cutting as much as possible from social spending to pay for tax cuts for the rich while blaming and victimising "immigrants" for everything.
Deeply depressing stuff.

Agree. So many services have been cut entirely or stripped to the bone.
Round here libraries and swimming pools are closing, roads aren't maintained, elderly care and schools generally are in a dire state

I don't know what the answer is but we have to accept that budgets aren't infinite

Some of those staff carry tremendous levels of responsibility and risk.

I actually quit a public sector job along those lines partly because the pay was in no way commensurate with the tremendous level of risk and complexity and the high profile nature of the job.
For a similar level of risk and profile in the private sector you would expect many multiples of the salary

There is the disability discrimination act so no they can’t just stop funding SEN

I'm saying it because I know an awful lot of older people (personally and through work) who voted Reform. Several who have voted for the first time or for the first time in years, specifically to vote Reform.

I didn't mean it as a sweeping generalisation, my parents are in their 70s and detest the party and everything they stand for. But our area has a very high older age population and is known as being particularly right wing (we had a BNP seat years ago 😬) These two factors meant nobody was shocked when Reform took control this week.

Thats why she said ‘most’ instead of ‘all’

The same way I feel towards Labour voters…..

I suspect they can’t do much unless they run the country.

Nice bit of ageism there. Why do you think only the elderly vote Reform? Maybe it meets your narrative to think that, but the reality is people of all ages have turned out to vote Reform in the recent local elections. And isn’t what’s being said about the SEN services equal to Labour removing cold weather payments from OAPs and doing a review on PIP/disability? All parties are looking at putting in place cuts which affect vulnerable people.

Not sure if it’s true, need the facts and figures. I think they tend to run with the lines anyone who can’t bring money in by working and will use more money than what they can provide in tax will be targeted…SEN / OAPs etc