More than 500,000 children in England with special educational needs face an uncertain future, as the government escalates moves to end their legal rights to defined support. Proposed changes to the current system of education health and care plans (EHCPs) have the active support of local authority representative bodies, backed by a consultancy whose research those same authorities fund.
If implemented, the reforms will effectively end the jurisdiction of the SEND Tribunal, at which local authorities currently lose more than 96% of cases.
The Gazette has learned that SEND Tribunal judges have been told their services will not be needed in future. This message has been conveyed by the tribunal’s leaders to judges and specialist members at training and other meetings.
SEND campaign group sources have indicated that ‘the ground is being rolled’ for root-and-branch reform, to be announced in a Department for Education SEND white paper. Civil servants have referenced the white paper in meetings with stakeholders, but its publication has been delayed. The document was expected imminently but may not now appear until the autumn, allowing for arguments and piecemeal government announcements that may appear within days.
Management consultancy ISOS, a go-to agency for the Local Government Association and the County Councils Network, published a new paper on 9 June. It envisages a new pathway to support which will see all children enter the school system through a single, mainstream route, where a failure to provide support that children need would see families appealing to the school’s governors, and then the Ombudsman. The report acknowledges that special schools will exist, but provides no clear route for children to enrol.
Policy experts also point to statements from specialists with whom the government is keenest to engage. On 15 May Dame Christine Lenehan, a government SEND adviser, was asked about the future of EHCPs at the national Schools and Academies show. Would plans be narrowed to apply only to non-mainstream settings? ‘That’s the conversation we’re in the middle of,’ was her response, the magazine Schools Week reported.
A spokesperson for the judiciary said it is unable to comment on government policy. The Ministry of Justice and Department for Education were approached for comment. DfE briefed that there is no SEND white paper, and therefore no ‘delay’, but did not provide a statement. The Ministry of Justice did not provide a comment.
The Department for Education has now responded to the Gazette.
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