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.

Its already heavily scrutinised
They dont just dish out private SEN school.places to anyone.

Is non verbal same as not being able to communicate?@Naptrappedmummy

Not being able to verbalise speech, rather than not being able to communicate I think.

We're not talking about people getting SEN places (which is already hugely variable and heavily skewed towards the middle class), we're talking about the cost of that provision, especially when offered by private sector, for-profit organisations.

Because all children have a,right to an education and as,the law if there is no.suitable school.in the LEA they have to.fund one that can meet the child's need,s
Education isn't just about passing exams its about life skills my son has,always gone to.a special school.its an LEA one so a cheaper option then private provision but his needs are being met,the skills that are being learned are to hr!p them be as independent as possible.

Its a fair question if you think of education in terms of preperation for the world of work and becoming a tax payer.

This type of residential school is also providing care, food and medical support within that cost. The education will be a small part of it. I think peoplle forget they are education and Health care plans that pay for it.

Education also becomes about self care and reducing dependancy - learning how to go to the toilet or express hunger, pain etc through alternative communication can massively improve quality of life and reduce ongoing care costs.

And some of education is about personal fulfilment and being part of society- although perhaps the state isnt in a position to fund that.

There are also plenty of people who with investment at an early stage can go into work.

Thank you for answering. I think then the terminology in the article is probably confusing. The “school” in the article (and others like it) isn’t actually a school in the sense of what most readers would understand, it’s a specialist residential foster care placement because the parents have essentially chosen to relinquish their child. So yes, the article probably does whip up resentment and misunderstanding because of the terminology used.

I used to work in a charity that was a residential home and school for children with severe SEN. The most complex children cost about £500k a year to place there, and they could be there for 10-15 years, so the Halifax bill is not bad at all. The level of need and staffing required is huge, its not profit, it all goes on facilities and care.

The problem is that it doesn't really breakdown what is being paid for.
It does say that its a boarding school.
But is it 1-2-1 all the time?
Does it include all of the teachers?
What exactly does it cover?

The system really is broken. Staff working in LAs leave because it really is a shitshow to work in and it's awful letting families down continuously as there are no specialist state places available. they are at capacity the government is not building additional schools but are not relying on over capacity state mainstream schools to take children, by adding on ASD/PMLD/SEMH bases.

The code of practice allows parents to name a school they want and thousands are spent on staff to complete tribunal paperwork to defend naming a local provision. Parents requesting independent placements costing thousands will possibly win these placements and the LA will pay. Hence causing huge deficits in the SEND funding for investment in their own state specialist provisions and their own overworked undertrained staff.

I have seen parents send kids to some of these independent specialist school which have frankly been awful. to me it is a money making exercise with staff who have no idea how to copy with the children with the most complex needs, but parents are seduced by small class sizes and glossy brochures.

It's really a mess.

I think most people would. The focus of the piece is entirely on the school and does nothing to criticise or identify the child or other children accommodated there.

Ah, I see some have answered that this is a residential placement and not just a school. Still tricky when you look at where public services such as the NHS draw the line financially when considering how much they can justify spending on each person’s life (eg the most suitable/effective cancer drugs are sometimes not available on costs grounds).

The BBC are the mouthpiece of the Tories who are well known for holding disabled people with contempt. Hardly surprising. Their quality of journalism is very poor. Their facts don't always stack up when you look into them. It's badly written, with poor analysis of the contributing factors.

I'm going through the process now of trying to get a specialist place. I have to go to a tribunal. My son is so behind developmentally against the other children and can't even talk at nearly five years old. He has ASD and GDD and complex needs. He is so vastly different to the other kids and his mainstream find it really hard to include him in any way, so he is also isolated from a peer group. If it continues this way, his chances of developing any kind of speech, friendships or learning any skills appropriate for his level of attainment diminishes. This means in the long term the government funds his care his entire life. He might possibly be able to do some form of work with early intervention. But they always choose short termism.

I think this article complete ignores the reason why charities and independent schools can call the shots in terms of pricing - because there isn't enough state funded schools. Again short termism means that they pay ridiculous money to an independent school rather then spend now and save in the long run. I think they are right to explore the cost, but don't blame the bloody family or council for it. Someone is exploiting someone's needs here.

Why do you think they should be isolated from society just because they are disabled? Are they not important enough to you to be able to have the same chances of meeting their potential than other kids.

You are missing the point. The council are being ripped off by an independent provider, but instead of questioning why these providers are taking advantage of councils or vulnerable people, you would rather the kids just be isolated at home without an education.

How would you know if they can't work either? I've worked with people with moderate learning disabilities before and autistic people. They can work with the right education.

Jesus, with ignorance like this it's no wonder this country is in such a state. The problem is greedy care companies, not the disabilities.

In reality, children who require such extremely high cost provision will always require it. They won’t miraculously get to a point where they can be fully independent. However, we do know there’s going to be an extremely high cost to supporting such children throughout their lifetime. That funding should come directly from the government, not the local councils.

Really? Is school only for those whose educational attainment is above a particular level? Or who can pass a phonics check / SATs / GCSEs? Are those who never will just confined to the bin?
Luckily, we as a people have moved on from life in the 1950s and no longer see less able people as lesser - or so I thought.

It's costing a fortune because it's going to a private company.

That's the scandal - that there isn't LA provision anymore, not that the child shouldn't have the provision, but that it shouldn't be for the benefit of private companies, their owners and shareholders.

I’m going to suggest to Mumsnet that they consider whether some of the posts on this thread, even though it’s in AIBU, are so ableist that they are offensively discriminatory. It’s a short step from “this life is worth enhancing with education, care and development but this other life is not” to some very dark approaches to society. If that’s what you want to spend your time proposing on talk boards, I’d suggest you make better life choices from now on.

I can’t disagree with you there. It’s shocking!

HerculesMulligan
I agree with you. It's shocking.

I'd get behind discussions about whether vast sums of money going to private companies after decades of chronic underinvestment in SEND services is a good use of public funds.
The discussion in some places has gone far beyond that and feels very much like some posters are drawing lines between deserving and undeserving children. It feels dangerously close to deciding society should write off some children for having special needs and disabilities, therefore why bother with them.