The Liberal Democrats are calling for an end to the disparities in support for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) across different regions of the UK. Party leader Sir Ed Davey is proposing a new national champion to coordinate and improve support for children with complex needs with a £300m budget. Under current regulations, parents must have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan for their child to receive tailored SEND support.
However, latest governmental statistics reveal that just over half the plans missed the legal deadline of 20 weeks leaving tens of thousands of children without support. The Liberal Democrats argue that underfunding has caused delays. They added that each establishment is required to pay an additional £6,000 per child towards the SEND support, creating financial barriers for schools.
According to Lib Dem analysis, there are stark variations between councils, showing that in Leicestershire, 96% of requests for families breached the time limit, compared to Calderdale, where almost every family received their plans in time, with only 1% of requests missing the deadline.
Sir Ed, a carer for his disabled son, said that no child or family should have to wait so long or fight so hard to receive such support, stating the current situation as unacceptable. The new policy has been announced during a local election campaign visit to Brentwood and Chelmsford, where he visited a special educational needs charity. The manifesto will be completely costed ahead of the general election later this year.
The government released its own SEND improvement plan last year. The Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson stated that the government is reforming the system across the country, with consistent high standards, earlier intervention and less bureaucracy. They suggested that investing more than £21 million in recruiting 400 educational psychologists and nearly 60,000 teaching assistants from 2011 is evidence of their commitment to support SEND children
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