Latest news with #EHCPs
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Views sought on specialist school expansion plan
People are being asked for their views on the expansion of a Wolverhampton special school for children with complex and profound learning difficulties. The capacity of Green Park School, on Green Park Avenue in Bilston, could increase by 27 places to a total of 174 from September 2027, under council plans. It follows multi-million pound proposals, backed by City of Wolverhampton Council's cabinet last summer, to increase places in both state and specialist settings. The council said the extra provision could meet a rising demand for provision for children with special educational needs (SEND). The school's pupils are aged between three and 19 and taught in classes of up to nine, according to its SEND information report. All are either under assessment or have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP). The council said it was working closely with the provider on proposals and welcomed public feedback. Councillor Jacqui Coogan said there had been a "marked increase" in the number of children with EHCPs requiring suitable provision. She added the council's expansion programme, which includes plans to increase specialist places at Westcroft School, Ormiston New Academy and Palmers Cross Primary, would enable more students to reach their potential. The consultation over Green Park School will run until 6 July. Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram. Schools' expansion will help meet demand - council Teacher 'honoured' to receive national award Council praised for improvements in SEND provision City of Wolverhampton Council
Daily Mirror
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
'We're terrified our kids' futures will be destroyed by huge education shake-up'
Parents and disability campaigners. are deeply concerned the government's reform of the SEND system will mean children with EHCPs will not be able to access mainstream education Terrified parents have condemned a government threat to shake-up SEND education, amid fears that 250,000 pupils at mainstream schools could lose their legal guarantee of additional support. The outcry follows suggestions by government SEND adviser Dame Christine Lenehan this week that they are considering restricting education, health and care plans (ECHPs) to children in special schools. With the latest figures for January 2024 showing that nearly 250,000 pupils with ECHPs were in mainstream schools, compared to around 186,000 in special schools, parents fear the fall out could be devastating. Speaking at the Schools and Academies Show in London, when asked if the Government's redesign of the SEND (special educational needs and disability) system would mean fewer EHCPs, Dame Lenehan said: 'I think probably so.' To questions asking if narrowing of EHCPs would mean they only applied to children in special schools, she replied: 'I think, to be honest, that's the conversation we're in the middle of.' While insisting that any new system would 'still be able to recognise and support children's needs,' she added that the structure around ECHPs was 'not fit for purpose.' Regarded as a 'lifeline' by many parents of SEND kids, EHCPs are legal documents that ensure children will receive a certain level of support in school to help with their special needs. However the number of plans has surged in recent years from 237,000 in 2016 to 576,474 in January 2024, and schools and other services have struggled to keep up with the demand. The latest news has been met with alarm from parents and disability campaigners. Anna Bird, chair of the Disabled Children's Partnership, a coalition of 120 charities, tells the Mirror: 'The idea of scrapping Education, Health and Care Plans [in mainstream schools] will terrify families. 'The reality parents and children face now is that an EHCP is the only way they can get an education.' Broadcaster and autism campaigner Carrie Grant MBE, mum to four children with additional needs, adds: 'When an EHCP ring-fences provision for a particular child there is a sense of safety, or at least a basis for negotiation between parents and school. If this money becomes available in a different form how do we make sure our child's needs are met? These are very hard times.' Hayley Harding, founder of SEND parent organisation, Let Us Learn Too, says: 'These children have done nothing to hurt anyone yet Bridget Phillipson and her department seem to want to make their lives even harder than they already are." Asked by the Mirror whether the Department of Education is considering restricting EHCPs to children in specialist schools, a spokesperson said it is 'actively working with parents and experts on the solutions'. They continued: 'The evidence is clear that this government inherited a SEND system left on its knees – with too many children not having their needs met and parents forced to fight for support. 'As part of our Plan for Change, we will restore the confidence of families up and down the country and deliver the improvement they are crying out for so every child can achieve and thrive.' Parents of SEND children are horrified by rumours that EHCPs will be restricted to children in specialist schools. Aimee Bradley and husband Davin, both 41, live in Hampshire with their three autistic children, Autumn, 12, Ashton, six, and Blake, three. Aimee says: ''I am absolutely terrified. I cannot put into words the fear and panic this causes. My daughter is in mainstream school and would be completely lost without her EHCP. It is the only thing that makes it possible for her to attend school, to learn, to feel safe. 'My youngest is only three and may never get the chance to access support. If these changes go ahead, they'll destroy children's futures. EHCPs are not a luxury. They are the only thing standing between our children and complete exclusion from education. 'My middle child, Ashton, is in a specialist provision. My youngest, Blake, is just three. He is due to start infant school in 2026 and we are in the process of applying for his EHCP. Not clearly suited to mainstream or specialist school, without a EHCP, I have no idea how he will access education at all. 'I help run SEND Reform England and every single day we receive messages from terrified parents. Our Facebook group is full of desperate families who feel ignored and broken by the system.' Influencer and author Lisa Lloyd, 40, lives in Aylesbury with husband Terry and their two autistic children Poppy, seven, and Finley, ten. She says: 'This is absolutely appalling. EHCPs are a lifeline for many children with SEND. 'Removing them means that we are basically being told our child doesn't matter. 'Taking away the EHCPs from children in mainstream schools who need them is going to have a knock on impact on everyone, including the teachers. 'We need everybody to shout from the rooftops because this cannot happen.' Nicola Holmes, 55, lives with husband Wayne and their two autistic children, Ethan, 18, and Ella, 16, in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. She says: 'I'm a mother of two disabled teenagers. My daughter is autistic and doesn't fit neatly into either mainstream or special school. My son is also autistic, and has Down's Syndrome. 'EHCPs give us hope - hope that someone, somewhere in the system will have to listen. They give us a sliver of power in a system where parents are often made to feel powerless. 'The idea of reducing, replacing, or restricting these plans terrifies thousands of families like mine. ''If the government truly wants to fix SEND, it must start by listening, really listening to the people who live it every day. ' Amy White , 38, from Hampshire is mum to Jack, 11 who has autism and ADHD, and daughter Esmae, three, as well as stepmum to her partner Sam's son Charlie, eight. She works as a SEND advocate and has written to her MP saying: 'I cannot overstate how damaging such a move would be – not only to the children and families directly affected but to our entire society. 'Parents are being gaslighted and misled by local authorities. Children are denied their basic rights to an appropriate education simply because they are different. 'They are different, not less. They are the change-makers of tomorrow – but only if we protect their rights today.' Charlotte Galbraith, 29, lives in Denham, Buckinghamshire, with her partner Callum, 29, and sons Angus, eight and Oscar, seven, who both have autism and ADHD and attend a specialist school. She says: 'EHCPs are essential for children with SEND to receive the support they need, particularly in mainstream schools. Without these plans, I worry it could lead to a rise in mental health crises among young people.' Georgina Davies, 42, lives in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, with son Jonah, 14, who has autism and severe learning disabilities. She says: 'Removing EHCPs for children that need them would be catastrophic for countless children and families. 'Plunging the elderly and disabled into poverty isn't enough for this government now they want to sacrifice education for SEND children.' Siobhan Stephenson , 30, from Durham, is mum to Frankie, 11, who has autism and global development delay and Ava-Mae, eight, who is autistic. She says: 'Without EHCPs for our most vulnerable children, this would be setting them up to fail. 'The government wants the next generation to be in work to better the country. But how can that be possible without an education that meets their needs?' What we know about EHCPs Campaign Manager for the Disabled Children's Partnership, Stephen Kingdom, has explained the story so far, concerning EHCPs. Q. Are EHCPs going to be scrapped? A. The fact that the Government's most senior SEND adviser has said what she has certainly suggests it is a possibility. But we do not know for certain. Q. What will they be replaced with? A. Until the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, makes an announcement we don't know. We are very concerned that children will lose the legal right to the support they need to succeed in school. Q. Where will the support come from if my child doesn't have an EHCP and attends a mainstream school? A. Again, until an announcement, it is unclear where provision will come from. Most requests for EHCPs come from schools themselves, because they can see the support a child needs but don't have allocated funding in their core budgets, or shared investment from local health and social care departments, to provide that support. Q. Will existing EHCPs be honoured? A. If an entirely new system is introduced, you would expect there to be a proper, well-funded transition period over a number of years. Q. Where will extra funding come from without an EHCP? A. This is the million dollar question. The fear is that the government is prioritising saving public money over the lives and wellbeing of children and families. Q. My teenager is about to leave school but will need support to go to college. What will happen to his support? You would hope that provision for school leavers will continue while they are in education, up to the age of 25, as it does currently.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Council to be asked to approve changes to home to school travel service
COUNCILLORS will next week get an update on the changes that have been made to transform Cumberland Council's home to school travel service. Members of the council's people overview and scrutiny committee are due to meet at the Civic Centre in Carlisle next Friday (May 23). According to the report – Update: Home to School Travel Transformation – the programme has achieved 'significant cost avoidance' during 2024/25 of more than £1.9 million through a robust review of existing high-cost routes. The report states that new policy elements were agreed by members of the executive committee in February 2025 and it outlines the work being undertaken to reduce costs and next steps. It is recommended that members endorse the principles underpinning the new elements of policy being introduced, welcome the cost-avoidance achieved to date and seek an update next summer on the operation of the policy and team once the new elements have had a chance to become embedded. The matter was last discussed at scrutiny in November and demand from children accessing special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) transport has increased since June 2023. According to the report there were 572 children using the service in June 2023, 615 in March 2024, and 690 in March this year. It states: 'Home to school transport services remain the largest and most financially challenging area of educational responsibility for councils outside of SEND, with these challenges frequently more acute in county areas and for rural councils. 'Over the past few years, home to school travel has become one of the largest spending pressures on local authority budgets. 'Recent County Council Network (CCN) research, published in November 2024, estimated that councils in England will need to spend £2.3 billion on home to school transport services this year to meet rising costs and demand – a 23 per cent increase in just two years. 'Much of this rise has been interwoven with the rapid growth in Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). This SEND dynamic is important as many EHCPs explicitly give rise to the need for costly, bespoke transport arrangements. 'Cumberland has seen a considerable rise in demand for transport as the number of students with EHCPs has significantly increased in recent years.' The report describes the council's transformation programme as 'a bold and ambitious initiative' that seeks to fundamentally improve the quality, efficiency, and sustainability of the service. It states: 'By focusing on managing demand, optimising processes, strengthening supply, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement, the council can create a service that is resilient, responsive, and aligned with its strategic priorities.' The report adds: 'This review work will become 'business as usual' in the future to ensure that we are continually driving efficiencies. 'SEND demand, however, is forecast to continue to increase, and the price of new tenders issued from April 2025 onwards will reflect the increase in employers' national insurance contributions as well as other inflationary factors; achieving significant savings against current costs will continue to be challenging.' The report outlines a number of policy changes which have been implemented including: Independent Travel Training (ITT); Personal Travel Budgets (PTBs); and an Enhanced Spare Seats Scheme.
Epoch Times
24-04-2025
- General
- Epoch Times
Special Educational Needs System ‘On Its Knees,' Says Teachers' Union
The special educational needs and disability (SEND) system is 'on its knees' amid rising demand and falling support, the NASUWT teaching union has said. A poll of more than 2,000 NASUWT members in England More than four in 10 (43 percent) say that the number of specialist support staff has decreased in their schools over that same timeframe. Just 3 percent say they always receive the support they need to teach children with SEND. Against this backdrop of a fall in support is a reported rise in demand. Nine in 10 said the number of children they teach with special needs or disabilities has increased in the last five years. In addition, 95 percent said that the needs of those pupils have become more complex. A high proportion of teachers also said that workloads have increased because of the rise in the number of children with SEND. More than nine in 10 (94 percent) said they are dealing with more paperwork, and 91 percent said their workload has increased as a result of underfunding in specialist services. Major Challenges The poll was released ahead of NASUWT's annual conference in Liverpool, where members will debate and vote on a motion this weekend calling for the government to develop a plan to meet the growing demands on the SEND system. Patrick Roach, general secretary of NASUWT, said: 'The government has inherited a SEND system on its knees. Related Stories 2/26/2025 1/16/2025 'Our latest survey findings point to the major challenges that will need to be overcome if any reforms to SEND provision are to be successful. 'Any plan for rebuilding trust and confidence in the SEND system must be properly resourced and integral to wider reforms to curriculum and assessment, inspection, accountability and measures to tackle the teacher recruitment and retention crisis and the ambition to recruit 6,500 more teachers.' The survey also found that 73 percent of teachers say pupils are staying in their current school despite having education, health, and care plans (EHCPs) that advise they should attend a specialist school to meet their needs, but cannot because that setting is full. 1.6 Million SEND Pupils According to This includes 434,354 pupils in schools in England who have EHCPs, an increase of 11.6 percent from 2023. School children playing during a break at a primary school in Yorkshire, England, on Nov. 27, 2019. Danny Lawson/PA Wire In February, MPs EHCPs outline the needs and support for children with SEND and are assessed and paid for by local authorities. However, councils have been warning that they are struggling to pay for the growing costs of the special educational needs system. The Public Accounts Committee £1 Billion Invested in SEND A Department for Education (DfE) spokeswoman said: 'The evidence is clear that the SEND system has been left on its knees—with too many children not having their needs met and parents forced to fight for support. 'It will take time, but as part of our Plan for Change, we are thinking differently about what the SEND system should look like, to spread opportunity, restore the confidence of families up and down the country, and deliver the improvement they are crying out for.' She added that the DfE was making progress by investing £1 billion into SEND and £740 million to encourage local councils to create more specialist places in mainstream state schools. Recruitment and Retention Crisis Roach also highlighted that tackling the 'teacher recruitment and retention crisis' was critical for wider education reform. Teachers are feeling the impact of the recruitment crisis, according to a National Education Union poll The government said it was taking action to ease workload pressures, support teacher well-being, and increase pay. The DfE said work has begun to recruit an additional 6,500 teachers, with the department pledging £233 million 'to get more talented people at the front of our classrooms driving high and rising standards for children.' PA Media contributed to this report.
Daily Mail
24-04-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Nigel Farage clashes with charities as he claims GPs are 'massively overdiagnosing' children with special educational needs and disabilities
Nigel Farage clashed with charities today as he claimed family doctors are 'massively over-diagnosing' children with special educational needs and disabilities. Ahead of next week's local elections, the Reform UK leader said there was a 'massive problem' among councils due to soaring demand for SEND services. Data has shown how the number of school pupils with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) in England rose by 180,000 - or 71 per cent - between 2018 and 2024. As a result, nearly 5 per cent of pupils now have EHCPs - a legal document that sets out what support a child or young person needs. Meanwhile, in 2023/24 there were 1.24 million pupils in England with special educational needs support but without an ECHP - almost 14 per cent of pupils. SEND funding in England is not allocated as a separate amount per pupil but is instead part of the overall 'dedicated schools grant' allocated to each local authority. Council leaders have warned they are facing 'unmanageable' SEND deficits, which has left many town halls facing bankruptcy over the coming years. Parliament's spending watchdog has also criticised the 'chaotic' system for accessing SEND support in damning report earlier this year. A wide variation in waiting times for EHCPs across the country has been branded a 'postcode lottery'. During a press conference in Dover, Kent, Mr Farage bemoaned an overdiagnosis of 'those with mental illness problems and... other general behavioural disabilities'. The Reform leader said: 'So many of these diagnoses - for SEND before 18, for disability register after 18 – so many of these have been conducted on Zoom, with the family GP. I think that is a massive mistake. 'If I'm your family GP, and I've known your family for generations, and you're saying to me 'doc, there's a real problem here with depression, or whatever it may be', it's quite hard for me as your GP to say no. 'So I don't think any of these allocations should be done by family GPs. I think they should be done independently. 'I think we are massively – I'm not being heartless here, I'm being frank – I think we are massively over-diagnosing those with mental illness problems and those with other general behavioural disabilities. 'And I think we're creating class of victims in Britain who will struggle ever to get out of it. That's not good for them and it's not good for us, so I worry about those things. 'I do accept though, I do accept that repeated lockdowns - particularly the third lockdown - were probably the biggest mistakes ever made by a peacetime government in this country. And they have caused great long-term harm.' Mel Merritt, head of policy and campaigns at the National Autistic Society, criticised Mr Farage's comments as 'wildly inaccurate'. She said the Reform leader's remarks 'show that he's completely out of touch with what autistic children and adults have to go through to get a diagnosis or any support at all'. 'For the record, absolutely no one has got an autism diagnosis through the GP – this is just incorrect, wrong, fake news,' she added. 'Children with SEND and disabled adults, including autistic people, are not victims who are being 'over diagnosed'. 'They are people who face huge delays and long fights to get the most basic support across every aspect of their lives, including diagnosis, education, health and social care. 'Spreading misinformation only perpetuates stigma and makes life harder. 'We're calling on all politicians to drop the political point scoring and stand up for their autistic and other disabled constituents.' Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson, her party's education spokesperson, said: 'Farage is clearly laying the groundwork to axe crucial special needs provision in councils he's got his eye on - communities where families and vulnerable young people are already waiting years to access threadbare special needs funds and special schools bursting at the seams. 'If Nigel Farage had spent any time speaking to parents in his constituency, he'd know he's barking up the wrong tree. 'The special needs crisis needs urgent repair - not his lazy rhetoric. We need a national body for SEND to end the special needs postcode lottery now.'
