Protecting children and young people’s rights and entitlements 

Letter to new Children’s Minister: We wrote to the new Children’s Minister, David Johnston MP (who was appointed in July, replacing the previous minister, Claire Coutinho) about the SEND Change Programme. We told the minister: “Our principal concern with the Change Programme is that it risks further weakening local authorities’ regard for the law on supporting children and young people with SEND. We are concerned that parents/carers and young people may not be aware that the reforms being piloted are not a replacement for existing law, which remains enforceable.” 

New national template for Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans: The SEND Change Programme is now underway in nine areas nationwide. Change Programme Partnerships (CPP) areas will be testing some of the Government’s proposed reforms. One of the first things they are testing is a new national template for EHC plans. 

We made detailed suggestions to the Department for Education on what this template should look like – with the emphasis on a clear sequence of “need, provision, outcome” – and what guidance should be included. Much of our work has been incorporated into the template and accompanying guidance that the DfE has sent to the CPP areas. The template will be finalised after the testing process is complete. 

Public inquiry into Covid-19: impact on children and young people: Alongside 40 other organisations, we added our name to a report on how decision-makers in the UK government considered children’s rights and wellbeing in the response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The report was produced by Save the Children, the Children’s Rights Alliance for England and Just for Kids Law, and published to coincide with Module 2 of the public inquiry. 

Human Rights Act: We welcomed the Government’s recent decision to drop plans to repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights – a plan that would have meant a reduction in rights for children and young people with SEND. Our policy manager was invited to speak about why the Human Rights Act matters for children and young people with SEND at a meeting at the House of Lords organised by the British Institute of Human Rights. 

Implementing the existing SEND legal framework 

SEND Change Programme: We produced a policy briefing for MPs summarising what the SEND Change Programme means in practice for children and young people with SEND. In addition, we have contacted all MPs representing constituencies in Change Programme Partnership (CPP) areas (around 90 constituencies in total), offering information about what is changing and what isn’t, and emphasising that the law has not changed.  

Safety valve intervention programme: We have been carrying out an analysis of ‘safety valve agreements’ signed by 34 local authorities with the Department for Education, whereby financial assistance is provided to local authorities with the highest SEND budget deficits in exchange for a commitment to review their local SEND provision. We have written to every local authority that has a safety valve agreement asking them to confirm that they will comply fully with their legal obligations to children and young people with SEND. 

We have been trying to find out more about what is happening in individual local authority areas. We submitted requests via the Freedom of Information Act to each local authority with a safety valve agreement asking for some specific information. 

Education, Health and Care plans: We were concerned at the emergence of information that indicated that the Department for Education had agreed a target to reduce by 20% the number of children and young people who are given an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, and we discussed this with the DfE. The Children’s Minister has since confirmed that the DfE is not imposing a specific reduction target. 

Improving accountability and helping parents secure access to redress 

National Audit Office review of legal aid: We responded to a consultation on legal aid by the National Audit Office, which is investigating whether legal aid is being targeted at people who need it most. We told NAO there has been a steady increase in the last three years in the number of people seeking support from IPSEA because they are unable to find a legal aid provider to help them appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

Improving SEN Support in schools 

Consultation on children missing education: We responded to a call for evidence by the Department for Education on children of compulsory school age who are missing education. We told the DfE that children with unmet special educational needs are at particularly high risk of being absent from school and missing out on education. We said that supporting children with SEND and meeting their education, health and social care needs is a better way to enable participation in education than sanctioning parents for non-attendance.

Meeting the needs of children and young people with additional vulnerabilities 

Exchange of correspondence with Prisons Minister: We wrote to the Prisons Minister, Damian Hinds MP, on the experience of children with SEND in penal detention and the extent to which their needs are met and rights upheld. The minister responded positively that all education providers in the youth estate employ SENCOs, and all public young offenders’ institutions have recently recruited ‘neurodiversity support managers’.