{"id":128892,"date":"2024-09-06T08:55:17","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T08:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/06\/no-quick-fix-to-special-needs-failures-parents-told\/"},"modified":"2024-09-06T08:55:17","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T08:55:17","slug":"no-quick-fix-to-special-needs-failures-parents-told","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/06\/no-quick-fix-to-special-needs-failures-parents-told\/","title":{"rendered":"No quick fix to special-needs failures, parents told"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"No<\/div>


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\"BBCBBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Louise Polkinghorne (L) and Koreen Fisher (R) attended a SEND debate<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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There are no quick fixes to problems faced by families with children with special educational needs and disabilities, the schools minister has said.<\/p>\n

Catherine McKinnell said the government was determined to reform the special-needs system.<\/p>\n

Some children are waiting years to find out if they qualify for support from councils, which are struggling to meet demand.<\/p>\n

MPs called for urgent action to help families in a packed-out debate in Parliament on Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The MP who secured the debate, Richard Burgon, said the process for seeking special-needs support amounted to \u201cchild neglect\u201d and there was a funding \u201cemergency\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Local Government Association (LGA) says<\/a> councils are projected to be spending \u00a312bn on these services by 2026, up from \u00a34bn a decade ago.<\/p>\n

More than 1.6 million children and young people in England have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).<\/p>\n

Ms McKinnell said the newly-elected Labour government wanted to increase \u201cinclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools\u201d and improve early identification of special needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 14 years, I can scarcely see a system that is as broken, one in desperate need of reform, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re determined to fix it,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n

But parents who were at the debate said the minister\u2019s plan lacked detail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘Nothing is being done’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Koreen Fisher, who was watching from the gallery in Westminster Hall, has a 10-year-old son with autism, ADHD, and a speech delay.<\/p>\n

Parents can ask local authorities to assess their child and give them a specialist care plan to support their special educational needs in school.<\/p>\n

Ms Fisher said delays to her son\u2019s care plan meant she could not apply to any secondary schools.<\/p>\n

When asked what she thought about the debate, she said: \u201cEverybody seemed to be in agreement but nothing is being done.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said if teaching staff were given training and more resources, many children would be in mainstream schools.<\/p>\n

Louise Polkinghorne also has a son with SEND and attended the debate to hear what MPs had to say about the problems many families like hers encounter.<\/p>\n

She said her son needs \u201cone-to-one support at all times\u201d in schools and she is trying to update his care plan to reflect that.<\/p>\n

As for the debate, she said MPs were \u201call saying the right thing\u201d. <\/p>\n

But she added: \u201cWe need more resources and unfortunately that requires money.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Schools<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Schools minister Catherine McKinnell said she saw aware of funding pressures<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The money needed to fund the SEND system as it stands is already putting councils under huge financial pressure.<\/p>\n

Ms McKinnell said despite high-needs funding increasing to over \u00a310bn in 2024-25, \u201cconfidence in the SEND system is low\u201d.<\/p>\n

The minister said funding for SEND services would depend on the government\u2019s next spending review, which is due to be announced in October.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we are working at pace and acutely aware of the funding pressures local authorities are facing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be easy or quick to solve these problems, but we really want to work on long-term solutions. That includes looking at the national funding formula.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah Morgan, the parent of a child with SEND, was watching the debate and said the minister\u2019s statement \u201clacked specific details, which is perhaps due to time constraints of the debate\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cAlthough her intentions seem promising, addressing the crisis in SEND provision will be a long-term process as we all know requiring much more than just funding, building schools, or those smaller commitments raised in her speech today.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BBC Louise Polkinghorne (L) and Koreen Fisher (R) attended a SEND debate There are no quick fixes to problems faced by families with children with special educational needs and disabilities, the schools minister has said. Catherine McKinnell said the government was determined to reform the special-needs system. Some children are waiting years to find out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[9779,12274,78,8793,103995,2743],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128892"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128894,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128892\/revisions\/128894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}