Budget cuts and what it means for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN)

SEN has been in the news again this week. Following the publication of the Special Educational Needs Tribunal Tables, The National Autistic Society (NAS) reported this week that many more parents of children with autism are taking legal action against their local authority because their child’s needs are not being met. We wrote about these results on 12 January 2015.

The total number of appeals to the SEND Tribunal by parents of children with all types of SEN rose by 13% in the year 2013-4 when compared to the previous year. In comparison, for the same period, appeals rose by 33% for children with autism.

The Local Government Association’s response is that recent changes brought in by the Children and Families Act (CFA) 2014 will reduce disputes. The thinking behind this is that a parent centred approach, together with mediation, should make it easier to resolve disagreements.

The new SEN regime has been in effect for just over a term so it may be too early to predict how the changes envisaged by the CFA 2014 will happen but my involvement with transitions to the new regime so far has flagged up concerns about how parents are involved in the process. I appreciate that local authorities have a mammoth task ahead of them but I have seen no real changes, aside from slightly different worded letters inviting parents to a ‘transition’ or ‘outcomes’ meeting where a similar process to Annual Reviews is followed. The transition to the Education, Health and Care Plan(EHCP) is not always fully explained, parents do not know that the EHCP must be issued only after the local authority has conducted an EHC needs assessment, and they do not know that they can request a personal budget.

The NAS has concerns that the increase in autism related appeals may be as a consequence of shrinking local authority budgets. Dan Leighton, Policy Officer at the NAS said, “Getting the right support can be expensive, but it can make all the difference between a young person developing and flourishing, and their progress plummeting. Many parents tell us their life is turned into an ongoing battle with the school, or local authority. It’s only the most tenacious that are able to make it through the system”.

Local authority budget cuts are especially worrying for parents of children with SEN. I am helping several parents in West Berkshire with their child’s Statement/EHCP. A recent article in the local newspaper, Newbury News, reported on local authority proposals to reduce the Higher Needs Budget from schools’ finances. Among recommendations for the cuts is the equipment budget for special schools which could be almost halved from £38,470 to £20,000 in next year’s budget. West Berkshire Council service manager for the SEN and disabled children’s team, Jane Seymour, said, “Some of the services which are provided through the higher needs budget are statutory and can’t be reduced, so we have had to look at non-statutory services which can potentially be reduced. These could have negative implications on those with special educational needs and so we need to look at that when we make our decision”.

To ensure that your child receives the support that they require at school, my advice is to make sure that their Statement/EHCP is robust. Parents need to be especially vigilant when their child’s Statement is being transitioned to an EHCP. They need to ensure that support doesn’t mysteriously disappear or get moved into non-educational sections of the new plan.