SEN funding isn't a bottomless money pit

[Sogfree]

I'll preface this by saying I really enjoy my job working in a SEN school. I care deeply for the children and families I work with.

I've had 4 different conversations this week with parents where they expect an excessive amount of additional resource to be allocated to their child. They expect this as, in their opinion, it's needed. I disagree with 3 of the 4 parents that this is needed.

All 4 of the parents are going to fight the decisions county have made. Their decision to fight will mean county spend more money arguing the challenge.

Services are already broken with the increase in need. Recruitment fails, as there aren't enough speech therapists/OTs/CAMHS practitioners etc to employ.

One parent demanding extra from one of these services means another child gets less.

One parent demanding a child goes to school X at £100k per year when a place at school Y at £30k is going to meet their needs means the child who needs the place at school X doesn't get it, and extra £70k per year is wasted. And the parent keeps their child out of school for 12-18 months whilst they fight for the place at school X.

That's the reality.

Every parent wants the world for their child. I understand that. But taxpayers can't afford to give every child the world.

AIBU - parents know their child best and we should fund what the parents say the child needs

YANBU - there's only so much money to go around and parents need to accept hard decisions have to be made without challenging them

I voted YABu .parents know their child etter than anyone. You spend X hours with DC .they are there 24/7.
@

Taxpayers can afford it. We just choose to underfund it because we (collectively) don’t want to pay more tax. If it were my kid, I’d fight tooth and nail for them too. No way would I accept someone else’s decision if I thought my child deserved more.

I have never understood why we’re not willing to pay more tax to properly fund education. It creates wealth and reduces inequality, which is good for all of us. And I want the people looking after me in my nursing home in 30 years time to be well educated. But not enough people agree with me on that so we are where we are.

as a teacher in mainstream the same is true some of the children who go to special school we could manage if given funding but we don’t and yet at special school they cost far far more! Very frustrating!

I agree OP. I understand everyone wants what is best for their child, but some people really just want bells and whistles without really knowing if this will help their child or not.

Can't vote because it's an unbalanced question

I had to fight sen services for a space at a LOCAL school because they thought sending my child 20/30 miles away was nothing because "they were paying for it not me" it wasn't in the childsbest interest to send them so far away and be on transport for so long plus he had never been on school transport so I didn't know how he would react and cope! We STILL ended up with an out of town school (there is one ten minutes walk away from me) but I can drive to it if needed I also had to watch as the other sen children were put in the local sen school near me or a local private sen school (paid for by them) while they chose me to piss about with personally I feel I got the better school but fucking hell they pissed me about

If the £30kpa school could meet needs the parents wouldn't be able to get the £100kpa school agreed.

You don't just waltz into the council office and get extra support agreed. If you appeal it is a rigorous legal process where you need evidence to prove why that support is needed.

I've seen it happen twice in the last 5 years.

You just need to know how to argue in the tribunal and to have done the right prep leading up to it.

Parents are always going to fight for their children. If they don't believe a decision is in the best interests of their child, they are not going to put up and shut up and why should they? It isn't their fault or their child's fault that it is so underfunded.

You are probably not being unreasonable, but if as a parent it is a job to fight for your child all the way and no good parent is going to think I won’t fight for something for my child because maybe another child needs it more. Look how most parents try to get their children into good schools.

I agree OP, I think this is a really challenging policy area ie how much should SEN funding be. Many councils are really struggling to meet their legal obligations in this area.

I don’t know what the answer is really. I think there’s a moral / ethical discussion around what investment / how much should be accessible and to whom.

There is not limitless funding (nor limitless taxpayer appetite) to fund these services - and there is a lot of competing interests.

Look, the vast majority of parents are going to fight for their kids, rather than trying to save the government money.

It would make more sense to have a well run, clear system so that parents know what they can expect (at present it’s a postcode lottery/down to luck a lot of the time) and so that any appeals are dealt with very quickly and at reasonable cost.

We need system and legal reform on this more than we need to criticise parents who are already struggling with kids who have higher than average needs.

That money is needed for defence, new warships, subs, aircraft, weapons.
School and your children's future does not matter.
Outrageous but true.

I argued for the absolute cheapest state special school that was remotely possible at tribunal. LA argued to keep DC on a package that was vastly more expensive or potentially send them to a £100k school. Fucking ridiculous.

My son was one of the ones where state school x could “meet his needs”. Meeting his needs meant he wouldn’t be a danger to anyone, just failing all gcses and probably completely ruining his mental health (but that’s apparently ok)
we can just about afford a private special school, and he’s happy and on track for decent gcses. He will have a future.
Reality is, if your child isn’t aggressive towards others, their needs don’t count.

I work in SEND and I am often surprised by some of the funding decisions made.

The system is awful. It is very slow, admin heavy and expensive. The process causes huge anxiety in parents because they have to fight so hard and compete for a pot of money that isn’t large enough. It creates unrealistic expectations which lead to conflict between parents and schools and you end up with outcomes that aren’t quite right for the child and that aren’t particularly fair.

The truth of the matter is the current system of SEN support is broken. Every child should be receiving the right education for them but because the government don’t care they expect schools to provide it with minimal support.

It shouldn’t be only the child who have parents who are able to navigate the complex system that get the best chances. But it is and that isn’t the fault of the parents who are able to fight. It’s the fault of the broken system.

ds1 went to one of the very expensive schools you mention.

My view was that I did not decide how schools were run and if the LA chose to create mainstream schools that did not meet his needs because they wanted to better meet the requirements of the other children then they could not complain about paying for a school that did meet his needs.

In the long run though, for him at least, I believe it has been a cost effective measure to send him to a specialist school in that he now is pretty independent i.e does not currently need PIP (and has not for the last six years), has just completed a degree and hopefully will start paid employment soon to become a net contributor rather than user. I do think we need to look at life-time cost & benefit when thinking about education choices.

24 - X

The whole system is broken.

I went to tribunal who ordered the LA to send my child to an independent specialist school for £70k a year. All because the LA refused the additional £5k a year provision he would need to properly access an education at the mainstream school he was at.

Fortunately they saw sense in the end because we wanted him to stay where he was, but it was a complete waste of everyone's time, effort and money getting to that point, and continues to be an annual battle when they try and reduce provision at annual review every year 🙄

This is the same LA who put him in a mainstream school despite numerous internal panel recommendations that he went to a specialist (obtained by SAR).

Only 10 more years of education to go 😩

I agree there isn't an endless supply of money so tough decisions have to be made by the local authority.

On a personal level though, I would fight like a tiger to get the best outcome for my child so I totally understand the parents doing that.

I disagree, lots of these children will not go on to be wealth creators at all, many will have no chance of even working at all. In some ways it might be better to use the resources to offer training and opportunity that is realistic. Not every child is going to be able to meet educational norms no matter how much money is thrown at them.

YANBU. Parents absolutely want the best for their child—but there’s a difference between want and need, and the system simply can’t give everyone everything. When one parent fights for more than what’s necessary, it can mean another child goes without. It’s not about not caring—it’s about fairness in a broken system.

It’s an underfunded system but it’s vital for those children. I am one of those parents who are currently challenging a cruel decision which will definitely damage my child. Each point they gave for their reasoning is unreasonable and untrue. They can’t base decisions based on funding.

those children deserve the best chances possible to bridge the gap with their peers and if you can’t advocate for them then you are in the wrong job.

the support SEND parents receive is disgusting. Lack of empathy from a state which doesn’t care and a system making decisions based on budget.

well I tell you and everyone else who is supposedly responsible for my child’s care. You will not damage them, you will not make a decade based on funding and once the judicial review and challenge to section F is over and all the wasted thousands gone into putting through two legal challenges (which cost more than what is asked for) I am going to make formal complaints, contact MPs, go to the papers.

I have zero faith in in the LA and the SEND service they are morally corrupt.

To be balanced there won’t be an education system at all if defence is not a priority, as we are entering a new chapter - we are already in a Cold War.

People may not like the idea of war, but they don’t have access to all of the information, so have the luxury of living in ignorance.

More specialist SENS schools need to be built. We have one here and it's excellent, but not enough spaces for everyone in this city. The council need to build another one. Placing SENS students into mainstream schools is not a good idea. I've worked at specialist schools and they are the best places for SENS kids for sure.