To think that this is OUTRAGEOUS!?!?

[mojitounicorns]

That this has so few signatures???

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/249057

Can we try and get the numbers up please

I didn't start the petition but am a Mum of a SN child and going through hell right now trying to get our EHCP through. There are many like me. The law needs changing.

So where did the nominal £6000 in school come from?

This Sums up my understanding of how the funding in school works,

councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/resources/images/cdc_funding_briefing_for_parents.pdf

So a basic chunk for all children, plus up to £6K from schools Sen pot, plus more from LA if needed. My understanding was that this would remove a lot of paperwork and that only those with high support costs would require funding from LA and probably an EHCP.

Nb not trying to be “fighty” genuinely trying to understand if I have misunderstood something

Signed

So a basic chunk for all children, plus up to £6K from schools Sen pot, plus more from LA if needed

The "more from LA if needed" generally only applies if children have EHCPs. A few operate a high needs funding system whereby schools can apply for extra funding without having to go through the EHCP process, but this is unsatisfactory for lots of reasons - notably that the funding can be taken away at any time without parents having any avenue of appeal or enforcement.

The £6K is a notional sum based on a complicated calculation; in practice schools receive a sum which assumes that, whilst some children (including those with EHCPs) will need support amounting to £6K, some won't. Schools will tell you that in practice this calculation means that they don't receive anywhere near enough to support all children with SEN, and it's a positive disincentive to them to take children with a high level of need.

However, most materially, none of this has anything at all to do with the bringing in of EHC Plans instead of Statements. There were similar delegated funding arrangements in place well before the Children and Families Act was passed. Funding arrangements are reviewed every year and are a completely separate process. In many respects, one of the advantages of an EHCP from the parents' point of view is that it takes your child out of that uncertainty, because by law they have to receive all the support in section F come what may, and irrespective of funding arrangements.

That’s interesting. It was presented here as control of funding being passed to school for “cheaper” support needs so they’d only need to get the LA involved for a smaller number of students who would likely need ehcp.

Acis
Genuinely, why are we enormously sympathetic to schools having not enough money to meet children's needs (also set out in law, and also immensely common that schools don't follow the law in relation to children with SEN) , but LAs don't get the same sympathy?
The fact is that the reason that LAs don't do what they should by SEN kids, the same reason schools don't, is that they cannot. They cannot provide support when they haven't the funds to carry out their duty. They are screwed by funding and the levels of overspend in most area high needs budget demonstrates this.
The core problem is government funding and the fact that this government has starved LAs and schools and then takes no responsibility for having done so but shifts the blame. Both schools and LAs fail to carry out their legal responsibility for youngsters with SN on a daily basis and the core reason for that is financial, not because the LA only employs SEN workers who enjoy denying support to vulnerable children any more than schools do.