11 May 2026

Along with our partners in the Save Our Children’s Rights campaign and thousands of families across the country, IPSEA took part in a large national demonstration on Saturday 9 May calling for children and young people’s legal rights to be protected and strengthened.

Campaigners gathered in Parliament Square and in towns and cities from Liverpool to the Isle of Wight with one clear message for policymakers: do not weaken or remove children and young people’s existing legal rights as part of SEND reform.

We know the system needs to change: it needs to start working the way the law says it should. 

Families came with their placards and banners making clear their views. The Government says it wants to hear parents’ voices, and they made their voices heard loud and clear!

We heard powerful speeches and poems from parent campaigner Carrie Grant, autistic teenager Tee-Jay, and other young campaigners, parent influencers and others.

Speaking to the crowd in Parliament Square, IPSEA’s CEO Madeleine Cassidy said:

“We all want a better, more inclusive system with earlier support.  

“But good intentions and assurances that the reforms will work are not enough. SEND legal rights were hard won. And they matter.  

“Because without them, support becomes uncertain.  Without them, accountability disappears. Without them, children fall through the cracks.”

Our message to politicians is:

Make the system work for children and young people.

Make it properly accountable for decisions made about individual children and young people. Enforce the law.

Follow the SEND Code of Practice, which covers everything the Government says it wants to achieve, from early intervention to inclusion to joint working across education, health and social care.

We will submit our response this week to the Government’s SEND reform consultation.

Related information

If you would like to understand the Government’s proposals in more detail, you can also read:  

Schools White Paper: what you need to know