The claim by the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, that lawyers are “exploiting” parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) is not only wrong, it is deeply insulting to the thousands of families who are forced to rely on legal advice simply to secure the support their children are already entitled to under the law (Report, 13 March).
I am one of those parents. My daughter Jessica has complex needs and is unable to speak or communicate. Like many families across the country, we depend on the legal protections within the Send framework to ensure that she receives the education, care and support she requires.
My decision to take legal action challenging aspects of the government’s Send consultation was not taken lightly. It arose because the consultation proposes significant changes that could weaken the enforceability of education, health and care plans, and restrict parents’ rights of appeal, yet fails to clearly ask the families affected for their views. Reforms of this scale demand honesty and transparency, not silence on the most controversial proposals.
The lawyers representing families in these cases are not exploiting anyone. They are doing precisely what the rule of law requires: ensuring that government proposals are lawful, fair and open to proper scrutiny. In my experience, the lawyers working in this field are driven by a commitment to justice for some of the most vulnerable children in our society.
If ministers genuinely want a less adversarial system, the solution is not to attack lawyers or weaken legal safeguards. It is to ensure that children with special educational needs receive the support they are legally entitled to in the first place.
Melissa Hayhurst
London
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