Sensationalist reporting - whipping up resentment towards education bills for complex SEN placements

[SoFuckingTired]

AIBU to say that the purpose of articles such as this is to foster resentment towards disabled children/young people? Clearly I'm naive but I'm surprised and disappointed that the BBC would report in this way. Yes £2.5m is a lot, but when you actually read further this is a placement for very complex SEN/behaviour spanning several years

Council billed £2.5m for pupil with special needs.

There has been a lot of press blaming either children with complex needs for bankrupting councils or their 'middle class' parents for enforcing access to basic things like physiotherapy and occupational therapy for children in wheelchairs that with support might learn to use a toilet independently. Middle class seems to mean educated enough to understand the process rather than wealthy.

Its clear major cuts are coming for these children. I think we will revert to the situation where there is no right to education for children with needs. Which is how it used to be.

Although i do think that some private companies and charities are treating children like 'cash cows' as well to be fair. There is such a gap in provision by the state that they can cash in on it.

This is true, and had the article been worded in such a way as to say this is what comparable education would cost in different local authorities or how prices differ between council services/private providers (not that complex care is usually provided by the council but you see the point I'm trying to make) then fair enough. But it's not, it's "How outrageous that one child has cost so much?"

I sadly fear you are right and I'm genuinely scared for the future of complex needs children/young people and their families.

The council I live in's plan is to halve the amount of children going to private sen places by 2028 and then another 100 the year after. They just won't offer them. The option instead is to make mainstreams cater. It will save them a fortune admittedly but at what cost? Two of my sons went to private sen schools and have flourished.

I think it's trying to highlight just how expensive it is to support children with additional complex needs. We are seeing councils going bankrupt, but the demands on them to provide social care for the elderly and support for children with additional needs is ever increasing. Councils are under pressure to keep council tax increases down but have a statutory duty to provide care to those that qualify. I think more are more councils are having to apply to central government for additional funding as they just can't balance the books

Given that headline figure is multiple times the annual budget of my children’s entire primary school of 100 pupils, it’s right that it should be very heavily scrutinised!

But the needs of the children in your school and this one child will be world's apart. To my mind you might as well complain that your childrens' health care needs are only a fraction of a baby born with lifelong disabilities and its wrong that the baby will have more money spent on them than your own children?

Its fair that costs are scrutinised. Thats why LAs have elected officials who run panels to scrutinse costs. A bit of press scrutiny if that process is going wrong is ok too. There are also courts scrutinising what happens.

Its the run of press reports blaming the children themselves, or possibly their parents that i object to. Rather than the systems, processes, funding, availability of provision etc.

I know tough decision have to be made about how taxes are spent but outlining one child like this is very harsh. Im sure they didnt choose to need 24 hour residential care. It seems very unlikely that the LA didnt look for cheaper options

This is the thing, it's saves them a fortune BECAUSE the children are not having the support they so desperately need which is why specialist schools exist in the first place. I don't understand how they can be so short sighted! Support children with SEN early on can drastically improve life chances meaning they go on to be fully functioning adults in society, working and contributing tax/NI etc.

Deprive them of those chances in childhood, it is much more likely you'll have higher costs to the tax payer for their adulthood because they have not been allowed to gain skills to live independently or work.

Completely illogical.

There are bigger problems coming as more and more children are surviving being born earlier and this will result in a multitude of children with additional needs who deserve the best support and education in order to flourish. There needs to be much better long term planning.

@Spendonsend absolutely! Placements at specialist provision, especially high funded ones are not handed out on a whim. This placement will have been hard won and as you say subject to panels etc, it won't have been a one person decision. I completely agree that funding should be scrutinised but I think to single out one particular child is grossly unfair. My heart goes out to the family of that child and all they would have endured to have been awarded that care.

If the council doesn't have the money, how can they pay for it? Austerity and underfunding from central government is the issue here.

Provision for anyone with any additional needs is not a priority for this government. They don't care.

@Spendonsend

Spot on it’s not that children don’t deserve the care and support to allow them to access education or that some groups are more able to access provision. It’s time to look closely at who is providing support and what they are actually providing.

Some specialist private care providers may be claiming to provide services such as therapies but in reality may not be.

Models run for profit should have no place in this system. They don’t work.

Absolutely, it's a government issue rather than a council issue but they should care. I know they don't give two shiny shits about the children or the families going through it, but they should at least care about the fact they are essentially removing hundreds/thousands of future adults from the tax paying work force. If money is the only language they understand then surely they can see the implications of their actions (or lack of them).

I read the article as questioning the supplier, not criticising the child

It is an 11 to 18 school so kid could be there for seven years.So 357,000 a year.
Works out at £40 per hour if the child is 24/7 resident.
It is a lot of money but what if it is non verbal child with challenging behaviour (which is what the school specialises in) then it potentially requires more than one staff member per pupil on average so 40quid an hour seems realistic

Everything is just a fight. I have teachers telling me a sen school would be better but right now there's no space and I'm fighting for more help in mainstream. Then other parents say it's not right he gets extra help that there's no money. Disabled people are being demonised and being painted as money sucking burdens.

You can see the annual report for the company running that placement here.

They made a £1.6 million pound profit in 2022.

"Middle class seems to mean educated enough to understand the process rather than wealthy."

'Middle class' used to be about education and profession more than income.

The shaming of said parents for ensuring their own child gets the help they are entitled to is frustrating - we should be working to improve access for those who struggle with the system rather than criticising those who find it easier to navigate.

Same applies to disability benefits - it's easier to get an award if you understand the system - it doesn't make your case less deserving.

It is an unfair and unequal system and I wish I could write what I really thought but I worry I would get into trouble.

I will say though in my experience I agree with @Locutus2000. Those parents that are in the know access the best education and resources available in my area and the same for dla.

We have a LOT of private sen in my area and the costings are eye watering and they range.

It is not fair that children with exactly the same ehcp's end up at...a. Council run sen school run down and lacks funding...b. Private sen school with 97 separate interventions Available.

Generally speaking why? Parental involvement and knowledge. ' in the known' parent will fight and go to tribunal. Other parents don't even know that world exists.

It's a travesty.

In a way I think it's good that more people are aware of the placement costs. I would like to see councils opt to build more local provision to enable more disabled children to live at home/near home. My DS is severely autistic and attended a Cambian school. It was a few years ago now but at the time it cost £130k per year for the residential school, plus taxi and escort costs 2-4 times a month. He spent 7 years there so you can see how the costs mount up - and I know other placements can be far more expensive as the dc need higher levels of supervision and therapy, and sometimes they start at a younger age or can stay until age 25. I think the fees have gone up a lot as well post Covid/higher energy costs etc. But it's what it costs to provide the necessary interventions and support for such seriously disabled children (and their right to receive it which is legally protected in their EHCPs). I would have liked DS to be closer to home, and I missed him a lot, but we viewed about 25 schools and this was the nearest one that could meet his needs (and he needed the consistency of a waking day curriculum so would still have needed to board even if it were local).

Although i do think that some private companies and charities are treating children like 'cash cows' as well to be fair. There is such a gap in provision by the state that they can cash in on it
I agree sadly.
There's such a gap in provision that private SEND/SEMH/AP providers can charge huge sums of money to councils.

I read the article as questioning the provider and scrutinising the finances rather than being critical of children with SEN and their needs.