The Government has been urged to make a public pledge that SEND funding and families’ legal rights to get support for their children will be protected.
The Government is currently reviewing how it can improve the special educational needs system. However, families who responded to a survey by Ambitious about Autism fear that proposals in the SEND Green Paper will make it even harder for their autistic children to access support in education.
One of the main concerns cited by the nearly 2,000 families who responded to the survey was that the proposed reforms would limit the ability of parents to choose a school for their child.
Under the SEND green paper proposals, parents would choose a school for their child from a ‘tailored list’ approved by the local authority, rather than based on their own judgement as is the case now.
Ambitious about Autism also wants a public commitment from the Government to fund support for children with SEND.
The additional £2bn for education announced in the Autumn Statement only restores education funding per pupil back to 2010 levels, according to the charity. However, there are more than twice as many children with SEND in schools and colleges now than there were in 2010.
Jolanta Lasota, chief executive of Ambitious about Autism, said: ‘The special educational needs system is broken – the government knows this and so do thousands of families who are at crisis point across the country.
‘But we fear that key aspects of the government’s SEND review will result in more pain for families, putting at risk current laws that help children with SEND get the assessments, support, and school place they need.
‘There are over 125,000 more pupils receiving help for autism in schools now than in 2010. As more pupils come through the SEND system, we must make sure there is the resource and funding to support them.
‘We can’t risk making things worse and writing off autistic young people before they’ve even left school. That’s why we are calling on decision-makers to listen to autistic young people and their families and protect the existing laws and funding they rely on.’
