Private school fees - act now for SEND!

[BellesAndGraces]

The King’s Speech is scheduled for this Wednesday (17th July) and it will be followed by 4 days of debating Labour’s proposed legislation in Parliament, including the introduction of VAT on private school fees.

If you have a child with special educational needs or a disability and send them to a private school because your local state school was unable to meet their needs but do not have an EHCP I would strongly suggest that you write to your MP and tell them why you send your child to a private school and how the charging of VAT on private school fees will affect you. Ask your MP to stand up in Parliament and ask the government whether it is willing to expand the exception they have agreed to make for children with EHCPs to cover all children who attend private school in order to meet their SEND. If you share your story and circumstances with your MP you will be providing them with a case study they can refer to in Parliament about how charging VAT on private school fees will affect those of their constituents who are already dealing with the challenges that having a child with SEND can bring.

You can find out who your MP is and their email address here: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP

Well yes if rich parents can pay for lawyers to get a result that isn’t good for state education and state SEN provision as a whole.

I agree with you; I am talking about a child in special school from 3 who is able to attend a local “mainstream” independent without needing 1:1 because the low arousal environment and small class size works for him. we need state schools like this, but they will never be agreed to as not cost effective. Except they are in the context of needs they cope with.

And for the children who don’t need EHCP because they go there, the money saved to the local authority is massive: first £6000 plus up to £14,000 or more EHCP funding. It doesn’t take many of those children to have to come out to mainstream schools and get the EHCP support to knock out an awful lot of VAT from paying children. One child could essentially cost the VAT from seven…

I think it would be better if labour provided provision for all children, regardless of need and ability to pay???

See my post above. By paying a private school fees for my son rather than capitation plus full support plus transport, the local authority saves about £8000.

How?

You’re presuming they’d get an EHCP. Parents saying their child needs a private education isn’t an instant qualifier for an EHCP.

Non pretentious private school with very low fees, all out into additional adult support rather than shiny facilities. The local authority pays every mainstream school a sum greater than £6000 for every child, SEND or not. A full support IEP pays the school another £14-15000 on top of this money, not even counting the notional £6000 that comes out of the school’s delegated budget for SEND. Transport on top can be several more thousand. Compared to fees of less than £15,000? The numbers speak for themselves.

If full time 1:1 is detailed, specified and quantified in F they should not be supporting other pupils at the same time or doing other things at the same time. That would be unlawful and leave the LA and school open to legal action.

For some, it is cheaper to pay an independent mainstream than either state mainstream or state specialist. It is how some parents win tribunals for independent MS because they prove it isn’t unreasonable public expenditure.

For many, full-time 1:1 would cost more than £12k.

How can they? The rates of children applying for EHCPs and having assessment for various SEN conditions is rising so dramatically, it’s no exaggeration to say they have absolutely no hope of affording excellent provision for all of those children. I’m not being negative, I’m being honest - Angela Rayner has basically admitted this.

Have you got any suggestions for those of us who couldn’t possibly afford private school fees if their kids have SEN, ECHP or not?

This.

Not to mention that if your child's needs are not being met in your local state school it will cost you far, far less to get some advice and apply for an ECHP, than to pay for private school fees.

I genuinely do not believe that a child who actually needs a full time 1 to 1, can manage with no support at all other than going to a private mainstream school. If you actually need 30 hours 1 to 1 every week, you will need sen support in a private school too.

Very few EHCPs will say 121 all the time with no group work/activities/ socialisation with/alongside other children or independent time ever.

This is horseshit. The SEND blackhole is estimated at £1.25 to £2bn. The govt spends more than £1000bn a year. Sunak proposed spending that amount on National Service. It's priorities - if we prioritised disabled kids and education we could do this decently.

For anyone interested, a FT 1/1 costs £25k when you include pension and all the other things that aren't the NET salary.

A 1/1 can help other kids if it benefits their named child (e.g. child has to practise working on their own so TA goes to other child for 5 mins or holds a grouo session to help named child work in a group). Obvs not if it's 1/1 for safety reasons

See my post above. By paying a private school fees for my son rather than capitation plus full support plus transport, the local authority saves about £8000.

Honestly if a child can manage with no sen support whatsoever in a private school I would be stunned if they would ever qualify for 1 to 1 via a echp. So the cheaper outcome fot the local authority is not a private school. It is mainstream with a more modest, affordable level of sen support than you believe is optimal for your child. Lots of children would thrive being taught one to one or in smaller groups, most in fact, but it is not affordable.

Many EHCPs are poor, yes. That is more about LAs than pupils' needs. But some do state full time 1:1 even when working within/alongside others in groups and it isn’t rare, especially where parents have appealed for a detailed, specified and quantified EHCP.

A 1/1 can help other kids if it benefits their named child

This depends entirely on the wording in F. If full time 1:1 is detailed, specified and quantified in F that is what must be provided and it can be enforced if it isn’t.

Yes so working alongside other children will benefit a child. The 121 will often run groups so it benefits others in the state system as well as the recipient.

If full time 1:1 is detailed, specified and quantified in F that is what must be provided. That includes providing 1:1 when the pupil is working in groups. Any school using the 1:1 to run groups, and therefore not providing 1:1 during that time, would be acting unlawfully and leaving themselves and the LA open to legal action. Any parent in this situation can and should enforce the EHCP.

What is a full support IEP costing £15000?

Obviously but this isn’t common. It’s more usual that independence is valued and a more fluid approach with a 121 is recommended. Any child that needed a full time 121 to themselves at all times even in small groups would need that in a private setting too so it’s a moot point .

This.

Theres nothing stopping anyone on here from writing up their MP about anything they see fit. Or starting a thread to rally support for that matter. If you’re concerned about provision for SEN children, your time would be far better spent doing that than completing about the op doing what she can to support her dc.

this isn’t common.

It is more common than you think.

It’s more usual that independence is valued and a more fluid approach with a 121 is recommended.

This is what LAs and some schools would like parents to believe. It is more about money and less about what pupils actually reasonably require. A sufficiently trained 1:1 deployed correctly does not lead to dependence. Quite the opposite, it promotes independence.

Any child that needed a full time 121 to themselves at all times even in small groups would need that in a private setting too so it’s a moot point

It is not moot at all because you are completely incorrect in thinking a pupil requiring full time 1:1 would necessarily need that in a private school. Sometimes the whole environment means a child’s needs can be met in an independent MS where they can’t in state MS.

The SEN budget stands at £10 billion a year, it will take much more than a further 15% of that bill to fix it if the problems are as extensive as to cause a crisis

What would cause the govt to trigger an education crisis? There is a crisis, in diagnosis, in support, in young adults going on disability registers and we are slumbering through it.

Watch the council level funding - many verging on bankrupt councils being offered bail outs if they can reduce spending on SEN.

Because guess what, SEN is hugely expensive whoever pays, and yes, we should all campaign on it.