Reform councils to cut SEN spending

[LookingForRecommendation]

.. 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

And you wonder why people call you out on discrimination.

My autistic ds would not have ever needed to go to a very expensive independent school if the HT and staff at the local school hadn't scoffed at the idea he was autistic and preferred to blame my bad parenting and ficticious 'chaotic' lifestyle instead. We actually had to move from my village/hamlet because we were so excluded.

The HT and his staff were just young, inexperienced and stupid is the best way I can describe them in retrospect and with the benefit of hindsight..

After a few years at an independent special school my ds recovered from the hateful experience he endured which really fucked him up (exclusions starting at age 6) and by 14 he was back on track and we moved back to our area and he went back to mainstream (after yet another little fight with the LEA).

Nothing is perfect, he's still autistic, and covid held things up a bit - but he's off to Uni in Sept to study his passion aged 23 and I'm very proud of him indeed.

Lib Dems have made a claim, however they can't cut SEN budgets within school, having said that a great deal of money is used to taxi and bus children into special school which I do believe comes under the county council but I might be wrong

They are still bound by the law with transport

They could still find ways to cut the costs

Standalone classrooms as you mentioned sound like a really good idea, but I think this is already in operation in some places - when reading the OFSTED of a local primary it said 1 classroom was dedicated to children with EHCPs. My only query is whether they can meet a range of needs in 1 classroom with 3 members of staff if things like SALT and physio are involved etc

Yes, they are in place, with mixed results.

There are definite positives- the ability for mainstream integration where possible, for children with SEN to be able to attend the same school as children without which makes families lives easier than doing multiple different drop offs. When managed well it increases awareness of the needs if those with disabilities which hopefully reduces discrimination. However, it needs to work for all the children in the school, not only those with SEN, and the school and the ARP each have it's own ringfenced resources. However, at my daughters school, if a TA from the ARP is off, a TA is taken from mainstream to cover, meaning that class looses out on that support, which is causing a lot of frustration among families, especially those with lower needs who need some support and are not getting it.

Great that Reform are going to get rid of the Ponzi scheme that is the state pension as well as privatise the NHS. They said they are going to get rid of all these rubbish net zero schemes and get rid of the fraudulent renewable energy systems. We will save money on translations and DEI as well as all the cash splurged on social security. I look forward to getting rid of human rights so that we can have tented prison camps for refugees and force them to work for their keep. We need to make Britain great again like Donald Trump is doing for the USA. He is doing such a good job and we need to replicate his work here. The British public want this not because we are racists but because we are realists and want a better life for our children out of Europe and supporting Russia and the USA our allies and ideological partners, rather than the socialists in Europe, Canada and the rest of the World.

There are two different setups.

A resource base (or whatever than LA wishes to call them) within a mainstream school. These are more common. For the vast majority of these units, the mainstream school is named in section I of the EHCP and the resource provision detailed in F. This is because the majority are not separate registered institutions.

A special school’s satellite provision that happens to be on the site of a mainstream school. This is far less common, but the number is increasing. These pupils have the special school named in section I.

Of course they are.

The World is a very depressing place atm.

Yep not surprised, just read an interview where a Reform councillor is suggesting SEN is over diagnosed and largely due to pushy or anxious parents. Oh well as they are selling off NHS, SEN issues will be the least of our worries.

#justfeckingtaxbillionaires 😂

I read it too, wonder what this councillor's sources are, rather than himself. Why do media even give any space to such idiots?

So because the Lib Dem’s said it, it must be true 🙄

All of the political parties have a "if we don't acknowledge SEN exists then we don't have to fund it attitude". Maybe Lib Dem and Greens the outliers here, but it is all lipservice anyway. Labour pledged to improve things and are now working to make it even more shit.

Parents need to band together and have to take legal action against the councils. It is the only way to stop this shit.

Everything I have put in place for my child has been through the legal system/tribuals or threatening legal action, it is par for the course of being a SEN parent/Carer.

This shit will carry on unless we are all united on this and help each other sadly.

Idiotic on Reforms part because most people know a child with SEN, even the older and younger people who would vote Reform. Lots of older people and younger people work with people with disabilities too. It really isn't going to make them popular.

@CovenOfCheeses you need your programming to read the room better. 🤖