16 September 2025 

When SEND parent Rachel Filmer created a petition on Parliament’s website in the spring calling on the Government to commit to maintaining the existing law on support in education for children with SEND in England, no-one had any idea that it would take off so far and become such a rallying point for families. 

We were all concerned about comments by the Government’s strategic SEND adviser reported in the media on the future – or otherwise – of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. Ministers have been saying for months that they intend to carry out a major reform of the system for supporting children and young people with SEND, and have been worryingly vague about what this might mean for children and young people’s legal rights to special educational provision and support that meets their needs. 

The petition aimed to highlight parents’ concerns about the prospect of moving to a largely non-statutory system of support. As Rachel put it earlier in the year, “Unless we see dramatic change, where needs are being met effectively at a non-statutory level, there is nothing that will reassure us that needs will be met unless the law requires it.” 

The rules of parliamentary petitions are that when a petition reaches 10,000 signatures, the Government is required to produce a written response. If it reaches 100,000 signatures – and fewer than 1% of petitions achieve this, according to the House of Commons Library – it is almost always debated in Parliament. 

As I write this on the afternoon of 16 September, the petition has been signed by an almost unbelievable 125,984 people. It was debated yesterday in the House of Commons, in a three-hour debate in Westminster Hall attended by more than 90 MPs – around 16% of all MPs representing English constituencies. There was standing room only, and the chair pleaded with all the MPs who wanted to speak to keep their speeches short, limiting them to two minutes each so that everyone who wanted to speak could have their turn. 

In advance of the debate, IPSEA and our partners in the Save Our Children’s Rights campaign worked our collective socks off to meet and talk with MPs and provide them with written briefings, to help MPs understand what might be at stake if the Government asks them to vote for reforms to the SEND system that would reduce or dilute children and young people’s existing rights to individualised support. 

Beginning with Dr Roz Savage, the Liberal Democrat MP who introduced the debate, MP after MP stood up to talk about the experiences of children and young people with SEND in their constituencies, the importance of having a legal right to EHC needs assessment and an EHC plan, the lack of accountability in the system for decision-making about individual children and young people, and the need to make education work for every child. You can read a summary of the debate on the Special Needs Jungle website, or the whole thing here.  

We were delighted to see the issues we talk to families about day in, day out being discussed in Parliament as if they really matter. One of the best things was the way many MPs talked about parents, emphasising that parents aren’t to blame for their children’s needs or for the pressure on the system. They have heard and understood that the system works when parents enforce it, and that some of the children and young people who are most in need don’t get essential provision and support. They are clear that this situation is created by unlawful decision-making and not by pushy parents.  

This comes as such a welcome relief from the language of “demanding parents” that has become so prevalent in recent months, with regular media headlines about children with SEND “bankrupting” local authorities and “explosions” of demand for special educational provision. It sometimes feels as if some commentators, think-tanks and representative bodies are determined to create a hostile environment for families of children with SEND, with their casual references to parents “gaming” or “hijacking” the system. 

The debate ended with a response by the brand new Schools Minister, Georgia Gould MP, who took over from Catherine McKinnell in the recent government reshuffle and now has ministerial responsibility for SEND. This was the least hope-inspiring part of proceedings, unfortunately. Although she said how much she wants to “hear from parents”, she wasn’t able to tell us much about what the Government plans to actually do to make the education system work as it should for all children and young people with SEND. For that, we have to wait for the Schools White Paper, which is due to be published this autumn and will include plans for SEND reform. 

In the meantime, IPSEA will continue doing what we always do: helping families navigate the system, explaining to local authorities and schools what their duties are, and defending the law that supports children and young people.

 

About the author

Catriona is responsible for IPSEA’s work in bringing about change by influencing the development of SEND policy nationally. Her background is in public policy and communications, and she has worked for a number of charities and public sector organisations, as well as in Parliament. In the past she has served as an elected councillor in a London borough, a special school governor and a charity trustee. She has personal experience of having a disabled child. In her spare time, she enjoys walking, reading, going to the theatre and being by the sea.

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