13 May 2025

Talking directly to national policy-makers and legislators about support for children and young people with SEND is an opportunity – and a responsibility – that IPSEA takes seriously. We are pleased to have been invited to contribute to an ongoing inquiry by the House of Commons Education Select Committee on “solving the SEND crisis”. Our senior solicitor, Georgina Downard, will today (13 May 2025) answer questions from MPs about accountability in the SEND system. 

The main message we want to get across to the MPs on the committee is our belief that the current SEND system could work effectively for children and young people if it were fully implemented as set out in the law and the SEND Code of Practice. 

The system is based on children and young people having the right to an education that meets their needs, and we don’t believe the law itself needs to change. However, that doesn’t mean things don’t need to be done differently. 

One of the main things that needs to change is the current inadequate approach to accountability for decision-making about children and young people with SEND. Our message to policy-makers on this is that: 

• There should be a zero-tolerance approach to local authorities that fail in their duties to children and young people with SEND. Local authorities should be expected (and should have the necessary resources) to make lawful decisions about assessment and provision for children and young people and should face consequences if they don’t.
• The Department for Education should find out what is stopping local authorities from fulfilling their legal duties to children and young people, and should routinely check that local policies – which don’t trump the law – are lawful.
• Ofsted inspections of individual schools and SEND provision in local areas should look specifically at whether schools and local authorities are fulfilling their duties to children and young people.
• The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) should have the power to investigate complaints about schools.
• SEN Support in schools should be made statutory – required by law – with sufficient funding plus training for school leaders and staff. 

We will tell MPs that the onus shouldn’t be on parents to fight for what their child needs and is entitled to. 

Parents/carers are often successful when they appeal to the SEND Tribunal, because the Tribunal applies the law on things like, for example, the threshold for an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment. But not all parents/carers are in a position to appeal: many face additional challenges that mean it isn’t possible. At IPSEA we are particularly concerned about families with difficult living situations, or without access to a computer, or whose child is in youth custody, or where a parent has SEND themselves. Without parents/carers who can fight, children and young people too often miss out on the provision and support they need and which could transform their lives.   

The right decision should be made first time round, without the need for SEND Tribunal appeals to make sure children and young people get what they need. 

We want MPs on the committee to have a good understanding of the role of the Tribunal and how it makes its decisions. A recent report commissioned by bodies that represent local authorities suggest that the Tribunal takes no account of the realities of financial constraints. But just as EHC plans don’t give individual children and young people more than they need, neither does the Tribunal. 

What children and young people with SEND are entitled to is educational provision that is:

• Reasonably required to meet their special educational needs,
• In an education setting that’s suitable for them and doesn’t stop others receiving an efficient education, and
• Not an inefficient use of resources or unreasonable public expenditure. 

We know – of course – that local authorities are under significant financial pressure. But policy-makers should resist any suggestion that an appropriate solution would be for the SEND Tribunal to base its decision-making on anything other than evidence and law. 

Ultimately, choices need to be made about priorities. The choice facing policy-makers is whether the education of children and young people with SEND is important enough to prioritise and fund.

At IPSEA, we’ll continue using every opportunity to push for changes that make the system work as it should for children and young people with SEND. We’re pleased to have been invited to give evidence to the Education Select Committee, and we hope our contribution helps bring about the accountability and change that’s so urgently needed. 

The evidence session can be viewed on Parliament TV. 

IPSEA’s written evidence to the Education Select Committee is available to read online.

 

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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