We're pleased to announce that James Robinson, Policy Officer at Mencap, and Matthew Dodd, coordinator of the Special Educational Consortium, will be joining us for a live webchat on Tuesday December 10 to discuss the Children and Families Bill and its potential impact on children with additional needs.
As many of you will know, the Children and Families Bill has been making its way through Parliament and is about to enter the Report stage in the House of Lords - meaning that unless something major happens, it will become law at some point early-ish next year.
The Bill seeks to make changes to things like adoption law, the care system and the family courts system; but in this webchat we're going to be concentrating on the changes it will make to the provision of education and social care to children with additional needs.
Some fairly major changes are proposed, including:
· The replacement of statements of special educational needs with Education, Health and Care plans
· The extension of legal entitlements into the further education sector and potentially up to the age of 25
· Stronger duties on health, education and social care services to work together and jointly plan and commission services
Many organisations working with disabled children and young people have expressed concerns about some aspects of the bill, fearing that many of the reforms will not fulfill the Government's stated intention of creating a more joined-up, less adversarial system for children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities. For example, there is no duty on local authorities to deliver the social care services identified in Education Health and Care plans, and no single point of appeal. (See SEC's Briefing for the House of Lords, which goes into more detail).
We know that many Mumsnetters have been active in analysing the Bill and feeding back to Parliament on its provisions, so we hope you'll join us on Tuesday to discuss its possible impact and what might happen next. As ever, if you can't join us live on the day, do please post up your advance questions here.
Thanks
MNHQ