Reform councils to cut SEN spending

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.. according to the Lib Dem’s. Can they even do this? My DC isn’t SEN but her class has 5 TAs mainly as 121s and I dread what would happen if their funding is removed. Our council isn’t Reform led but they’re pretty neck on neck in no overall control.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/apr/24/ed-miliband-energy-pricing-keir-starmer-nigel-farage-latest-live-uk-politics-news

There are definitely some more liberal interpretations of the law to get a EHCP in some areas.

Clearly you don’t have DC who you have pursued an EHCP for. This really isn’t the case. LAs don’t issue EHCPs unless the legal threshold set out in section 37 of the Children and Families Act 2014 is met (and even if it is, they often still refuse). Neither does SENDIST - if they did, LAs would by quick to challenge the decision via the Upper Tier.

In fact schools and LAs often don’t look at needs in the same way.

This is true. That doesn’t mean parents pursuing support are the problem. The problem lies with LAs acting unlawfully. Not the parents. You can see this by SENDIST and LGO statistics. Some schools fail to recognise or acknowledge a child’s SEN - that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, which is proven when they go to SENDIST.

Despite the apparent general consensus among posters that I must be Hitler reincarnated, I’m actually very much of the belief that “Other struggling people aren’t the problem”.

But the bottom line is, money has to come from somewhere - the current funding is unsustainable; and if someone is accessing a service, I don’t think it’s a terrible notion to ask them to contribute towards it.

Many people can’t afford the later either and transport shouldn’t be a barrier to getting an education.

A society where “other struggling people aren’t the problem” isn’t one I want to be part of. If we can’t support the most vulnerable who do we support?

this x 1000000. They also want to abolish the human rights act and the equality act. If they get into power properly this country will be a very scary place for anyone whose face doesn't fit. I'm already seeing their fanboys calling for migrants to be put into guarded camps, deported etc. It's a only a short extension to people with disabilities. I want to scream from the rooftops that we are facing unbelievable danger but people won't listen until it is their loved ones being persecuted. The answer to the question "how on earth did Hitler gain power?" is right in front of our noses and it's happening again. "They came" by Niemoller should be compulsory reading.

No - you’re misinterpreting what I’ve said.

The phrase pushes back against the idea that poor or struggling people are competing with each other for limited resources, and instead suggests that the real problem lies in larger structural factors—like government policies, economic inequality, or corporate practices—that create or worsen hardship.

In short: don’t blame people who are also suffering; blame the systems that keep people struggling in the first place.

But you’re blaming the people who are suffering. You want them to pay to get support. Ffs!

Pressed post too soon - I meant to add that if my child was the recipient of a service, I would have no problem contributing towards that.

As long as they don't mind when their own children are adversely impacted by unsupported children in the classrooms.

You can say that because either it’s not happening to you now and therefore you do not have the slightest understanding of the amount of money having a disability costs, or you’re in a fortunate financial position to be able to afford it.

What happens if the parents of an SEN child cannot afford to pay? Does the disabled child have to stay at home?

I don't know why people are not really scared by these people. Farage was greeting by swooning fans like a bloody celebrity when he visited here a few weeks ago. He's truly evil and a threat to the country, much more than any refugee ever will be.

Bully for you, not everybody can and not everybody would. So what happens to those children?

So if your child’s needs where such that you couldn’t work how would you pay?

I can see the poster’s POV, I think it’s hugely unrealistic to ask 1 family to pay for a 121 as hardly anybody would be able to afford it (I couldn’t) but equally the number of people classified as vulnerable and needing high level support is so far beyond what it was even 20 years ago, that how do we keep up? We also have other things to fund

Families with disabled children are more than twice as likely to be living in poverty than families without a disabled child. If you add additional costs, that is going to increase.

Why would anyone want more children, disabled or not, living in poverty.

Very few children need or have 121s.

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.

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

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

There are 3 in DD’s class alone (state school in average area)

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.

That is unusual.

The school says it’s not

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.