This is in the AIBU thread, but I thought it worth posting here because it is particularly relevant to us.
People have probably heard about the government's proposals for legal aid and the horrendous effect they will have on access to justice. One element is the proposal to remove legal aid for judicial review actions unless you take the case to court by other means and get permission to proceed. Judicial review is the means by which we can enforce our children's rights in all sorts of ways - enforcing special needs support, forcing councils to give proper care, making them keep to statutory timetables, making them provide education for children out of school, getting school transport, challenging unlawful exclusions etc etc. At present most children are able to get legal aid to bring these challenges, but if Grayling's proposals go through, it will be virtually impossible. And once local authorities know they can't be challenged, we all know what will happen then, don't we?
So please could we all sign the petition at epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/48628. People in the London area might like to consider joining the demonstration outside the Ministry of Justice on 4th June - legalvoice.org.uk/uncategorized/save-uk-justice-demo-tuesday-june-4/. If you can email your MP, even better; it's easy to do via www.theyworkforyou.com/