\n<\/p>\n
Ministers have \u201clearned the lesson\u201d of botched welfare changes and are on a sustained lobbying blitz of Labour MPs over an overhaul of special educational needs, Labour MPs have said, as they warned they would not back measures aimed at saving money.<\/p>\n
The changes will raise the bar at which children in England qualify for an education, health and care plan (EHCP), which legally entitles children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) to get support. Plans will be reserved for children with the most severe and complex needs, according to sources familiar with the proposals.<\/p>\n
The expected move has sparked concerns among parents and campaigners who have warned that limiting legal rights could have catastrophic implications for children and families, and among MPs who say Send is the issue they are most contacted about.<\/p>\n
Weakening the Send legal framework would put at risk decades of progress towards inclusion, said Madeleine Cassidy, the chief executive of IPSEA, a charity providing legal advice that is part of the Save Our Children\u2019s Rights campaign. \u201cThese rights are not optional \u2013 they are essential safeguards that enable families to secure the support their children need to access education and thrive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has been leading a year-long lobbying offensive of hundreds of MPs to convince them that the changes are not aimed at saving money and will make schools more inclusive. But despite intensive engagement with the parliamentary Labour party, some in government are worried that Labour MPs could vote the plans down in the next parliamentary session, saying that such an event could hasten the end of Keir Starmer\u2019s premiership.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone knows this is the most high-stakes political reform they\u2019ve taken on since welfare,\u201d said one Labour MP. Alongside official debates and a consultation, ministers have also been meeting with parents and campaigners and running special listening exercises with MPs who have children with special needs, while MPs have also been given guidance packs on running Send roundtables.<\/p>\n
Another MP said there was a stark contrast in preparation of the overhauls. \u201cWe have had a masterclass in how not to do engagement with the PLP [parliamentary Labour party] in recent months with the welfare bill,\u201d they said. \u201cAnd now we\u2019re seeing a masterclass in how to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jen Craft, an MP and member of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on Send, said she would oppose plans to restrict EHCPs if a properly funded replacement system was not in place. \u201cThat would be a real issue,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Phillipson has told MPs that the overhaul of the system, in which funding for high-needs provision has increased by more than 50% to \u00a311bn a year, is not a cost-cutting exercise. She told the PLP it was \u201cmorally wrong\u201d to put children in independent special schools that often failed them at \u201cenormous cost\u201d to them and the taxpayer.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Department for Education said it had already invested \u00a33bn in specialist Send units in local state schools and \u00a3200m to train teachers in Send.<\/p>\n
They said: \u201cOur priority is \u2013 and has always been \u2013 improving outcomes for children and young people with Send. We will restore parents\u2019 trust by fixing what isn\u2019t working in the system and strengthening support for those who need it \u2013 shaped directly by the views and experiences of those who know the system best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meg Hillier, the MP who is chair of the Treasury select committee, who led the Labour backbench rebellion against the welfare reform bill, said this \u201cdownpayment\u201d was key to building trust. \u201cBridget knows its important to get it as right as possible first time, you don\u2019t get to take a shot at this,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd she\u2019s working hard to bring the PLP and stakeholders with her.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the government will have to save money. Spiralling Send costs have put local authorities into \u00a36bn of debt. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said in last year\u2019s budget that she would take over full responsibility for the costs.<\/p>\n
Avnee Morjaria, a co-author of an influential report from the Institute for Public Policy Research, said: \u201cA reform of this scale will eventually need a serious rebalancing of funding from individuals to the school system so that children can access the support they need sooner and more efficiently. That will have implications for the funding available for EHCPs in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Helen Hayes, the chair of the education select committee, said the government should retain existing legal rights and the new system had to be properly funded and fully accountable. The proportion of children on EHCPs has grown from 3% in 2018 to more than 5%, with the number of assessments increasing by 250% between 2013 and 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cParents rely on the part of the system \u2013 the EHCP \u2013 that has statutory accountability, because there is almost no accountability in any other part of the system,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>\n
The MP Antonia Bance said rebuilding trust with parents was an uphill battle \u201cbecause few people believe that things can actually get better. But there is an absolute consensus that the current system is broken. We have to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ministers have \u201clearned the lesson\u201d of botched welfare changes and are on a sustained lobbying blitz of Labour MPs over an overhaul of special educational needs, Labour MPs have said, as they warned they would not back measures aimed at saving money. The changes will raise the bar at which children in England qualify for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[2718,22711,496,134,6306,321,328,2090,1014],"class_list":{"0":"post-43415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-avoid","9":"tag-blitz","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-labour","12":"tag-lobbying","13":"tag-ministers","14":"tag-policy","15":"tag-rebellion","16":"tag-send"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}