A generation of children with special educationalneeds and disabilities(SEND) arenot getting the supportthey need because of “a nightmare of bureaucracy, buck-passingand confusion”, a damning new report has warned.
The Commons Education Select Committee says that the poor implementation of SEND reforms to support children and young people have thrown families into crisis, put local councils under pressure and left schools struggling to cope.
The MPs’ long-awaitedreport calls for radical changes to the support available for families and to the way the government holds service providersto account to ensure its reforms are being delivered.
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It warns that a significant funding shortfall is a serious contributing factor to the failure on the part of all involved to deliver on SEND reforms and meet children’s needs.
However, the committee also warnsthat “unless we see a culture change, within schools and local authorities and the government, any additional money will be wasted and make little difference to their lives”.
The committee’s chairRobert Halfon said:“We need to end this majorsocial injustice, one which affectschildren and their families, particularly those whoare not as well equipped tonavigatethis bureaucratic maze.
“Of course, extra funding for SEND announced in the spending roundis welcome but the truth is that more cash will fail to make a difference to children with special education needs unless there is a radical change of approach throughout the system.
“The DfE [Department for Education]cannot continue with a piecemeal and reactive approach to supporting children with SEND. Rather than making do with sticking plasters, what is needed isatransformation,a morestrategic oversight and fundamental change to ensure a generation of children is no longer let down.”
The crisis in the services and support available for people with SENDhas beenwell documented.
Last month, Vlog revealed that more than half of the first 100SEND area inspections to be carried out had found significant weaknesses in the services for children and young people.
And earlier this month, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsmanwarned thatchildren with SEND werebeing let down by a system that is meant to support them.
The MPsreport, published today, says that thereforms to the support for children and young people contained in the Children and Families Act 2014 were the right ones but criticises government, councils, health bodies and schools for failing to ensure they have been delivered.
The reforms saw the introduction of a co-ordinated assessment process to assess a child’s educational, health and care needs and the delivery of EHCPs to ensure these needs were met.
‘System breeds conflict and despair’
Mr Halfon added:“Despite thegood intentions of thereforms, many childrenwith special educational needs and disabilitiesare being let down day after day. Many parentsface a titanic struggle just to try andensure theirchildgets access to the right support.
“Families are often forced to wade through a treacle of bureaucracy,in a system which breeds conflictand despairas parents try tonavigate apostcode lottery of provision.
“A lack of accountability plagues the systemaslocal authorities, social care and healthproviderstoofrequentlyseek to pass the buck rather than take responsibility for providing support.
“Children and parentsshould nothave to struggle in this way- they should be supported.
“There needs to be a radical change toinspection, support for parentsandclear consequences for failuretoensurethe2014Actdelivers as the governmentintended.”
The committee calls for:
·A more rigorous inspection frameworkfor local authorities,with clear consequences for failure and a greater focus on SEND in school inspections.
·Adirect line forparents and schoolsto appeal directly tothe Department for Education where local authorities appear not to be complying with the law.
·Powersfor the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsmanto investigate complaints about schools.
·The development of more employment and training opportunities for post-16 young people.
A Department for Education spokesperson said:“No child should be held back from reaching their potential, including those with special educational needs.
“That’s why we recently announced a £780 million increase to local authorities’ high-needs funding, boosting the budget by 12 per centand bringingthe total spent on supporting those with the most complex needs to over £7 billion for 2020-21.
“This report recognises the improvements made to the system over five years ago were the right ones, and put families and children at the heart of the process. But through our review of these reforms, we are focused on making sure they work for every child, in every part of the country.”
