We've Signed a Joint Open Letter to the DfE on SEND Reforms
22 September 2022
Today, we have written to the Department for Education as part of a group of 30+ organisations who work with and support children with special educational needs and disabilities, and their families, to call for future SEND reform to be underpinned by six principles.
We believe, based on our engagement with parents and carers, professionals, and organisations in the sector that reform must:
- Be co-designed with children and families
- Strengthen compliance with the law
- Ensure parental choice is retained
- Make post-16 support a priority
- Not squeeze children’s needs into funding bands
- Address existing gaps in the Green Paper
The Government’s consultation on its recent SEND Green Paper closed in July. Now the Department for Education will deliberate on the feedback it received and is expected to respond by the end of the year, with new regulations likely to follow shortly after.
While the government’s SEND reforms were originally introduced to ‘improve an inconsistent, process-heavy and increasingly adversarial system’, we are concerned that the proposals in the Green Paper as they stand do not address the accountability gap and could worsen delays and access to support across the country.
Research conducted by the Together Trust earlier this year suggests that 9 in 10 parents and carers currently require specialist help to understand what support their child is entitled to.
One parent, Samantha, said that “there are so many obstacles to getting your child the right help, every decision is appealed before the support which is so desperately needed is finally given”.
Lucy Croxton, the Together Trust’s Campaigns Manager, said “the current system is underperforming for children and their families, but the current SEND proposals miss the mark. This joint letter demonstrates the will of organisations who support children with SEND to get reform right without cutting corners.”
Signatories to the letter
Mark Lee, Together Trust, Chief Executive
Stephen Kingdom, Disabled Children's Partnership, Campaign Manager
Parmi Dheensa, Include Me TOO, Executive Director
Kate Steele, SHINE (Spina bifida • Hydrocephalus • Information • Networking • Equality), Chief Executive
Sally Polanski, Amaze, CEO
Sue Millman, Ataxia UK, CEO
David Coe, AFK, CEO
Caroline Stevens, National Autistic Society, CEO
Michael McGrath, Muscle Help Foundation, Founder & CEO
Louise Griew, Roald Dahl Marvellous Children's Charity, CEO
Kathy Evans, Children England, CEO
Jane Harris, I CAN, Chief Executive
Sarah Pugh, Whizz-Kidz, Chief Executive Officer
Claire Bryant, Cherry Trees, CEO
Tom Madders, YoungMinds, Campaigns Director
Rita Waters, NYAS (National Youth Advocacy Service), Group Chief Executive (England and Wales)
Zillah Bingley, Rainbow Trust Children's Charity , Chief Executive
Dr Rhidian Hughes, Voluntary Organisations Disability Group, Chief Executive
Gill Gibb, Tree of Hope, CEO
Helen Hewitt, Chailey Heritage Foundation, Chief Executive
Assunta Soldovieri, Sebastian's Action Trust, Head of Family Services
Katie Ghose, KIDS, Chief Executive
Dr Beth Bodycote, Not Fine in School, Director
Tania Tirraoro, Renata Blower, Special Needs Jungle Ltd, Co-Directors
Mike Hobday, National Deaf Children's Society, Executive Director Policy and Campaigns
Ali Gunn, United Response, Public Affairs and Policy Lead
Megan Jarvie, Coram Family and Childcare, Head of Coram Family and Childcare
Kevin Williams, The Fostering Network, Chief Executive
Andy Fletcher, Together for Short Lives, Chief Executive
James Taylor, Scope, Director of Strategy, Impact and Social Change
Carolyne Willow, Article 39, Director
