Council report lets down disabled children

4 mins read

Thursday 25 July 2024

Tags: EHC plans, SEND Tribunals, SEND system

Contact’s policy officer, Imogen Steele has given give her assessment of the ISOS Partnership report (England) published today.

The report, commissioned by the Local Government Association and County Council Network, sets out ideas for the future of the special educational needs system in England. You may have already read the excellent analysis by Special Needs Jungle and others.

As someone who was interviewed by the ISOS partnership for this report, I don’t feel like I was listened to at all.  As a disabled individual who had to rely on the law to get my schools and teachers to even bother to try to teach me, this report has really disappointed me.

Diminish disabled children’s rights

The overall aim of creating a system that is inclusive to all students, where a plan of support that is linked to funding – an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) – won’t be needed for the majority is good.

However, the proposal seems vague, lacking in detail and idealistic. Of greater concern are some of the report’s more controversial proposals such as changing the SEN legal framework and removing the SEND Tribunal which will simply diminish disabled children’s rights in education.

Restricting access to EHC plans

At Contact we are deeply concerned that some of the recommendations in the ISOS report will dilute disabled children’s rights in education. The report proposes to restrict access to Education, Heath and Social Care Needs Assessments, limit Education, Health and Social Care Plans ‘for the minority of children’ and diminishes parental rights to choose where their disabled child goes to school. This is a vital right as parents with disabled children are the experts on their child’s needs and where they will be best met. 

SEND Tribunals

Perhaps most disturbing of all is the report’s suggestion of abolishing the SEND Tribunal – the court where parents can appeal against the decisions made in relation to their child’s Special Educational Needs. The report suggests that the tribunal will be replaced by an independent practitioner body with no judicial powers. These proposals will leave disabled children with diminished rights in education. And their families’ ability to challenge wrongful decisions via appeals will disappear.

Taking away families’ legal rights

Contact’s CEO Anna Bird and others across the disability sector have reacted to the ISOS report with the following statement.  

“Taking away families’ legal rights would only risk more children and their families being failed. This is because these rights are an essential safeguard when nothing else has worked.  What Government should do is give schools the right skills and enough money to be able to support the 1.7 million children in England with special educational needs. Until they do that, thousands of children will fail to learn and many will be unable to go to school at all.” 

Access to therapists

There are some positive recommendation in the report such as:

  • A “Core offer” of targeted, multi-disciplinary support that all education settings can access without children requiring a statutory plan
  • Focus on transition into adult services (“Destinations and Progression Service”)
  • System-wide workforce strategy

What’s needed

Contact like to see the government enhance support for disabled pupils in mainstream schools. This can be achieved by boosting funding, legal entitlements and access to specialists. This will make disabled pupils feel welcome and included in the school environment. In the long-term, this will reduce the need for education, health and care (EHC) plans

For more detail on Contact 3 asks for the SEN system see our campaigns section.