Campaigners are calling on Andy Burnham to abandon core parts of the reforms, which were announced by Keir Starmer and Bridget Phillipson. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA View image in fullscreen Campaigners are calling on Andy Burnham to abandon core parts of the reforms, which were announced by Keir Starmer and Bridget Phillipson. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA Special educational needs Campaigners led by Chris Packham urge prime minister to rethink Send overhaul Exclusive: Letter to government says changes will unfairly remove legal protections for children in England
Letter: Legal rights must be retained for children with Send
Prefer the Guardian on Google Campaigners are calling on Andy Burnham to abandon the core elements of the government’s overhaul of special educational needs provision in England, arguing they unfairly remove children’s legal protections.
A group of children, parents and experts, led by the broadcaster Chris Packham, have written a letter calling for the prime minister to gut the plans laid out under his predecessor Keir Starmer.
Starmer and Bridget Phillipson, the former education secretary, announced the sweeping changes this year, aiming to curb the increase in legally mandated education, health and care plans (EHCPs) and save money in the long term.
Now campaigners are hoping the change of prime minister and education secretary may bring a change of heart from the government – even though officials say it is unlikely.
In the letter, published in the Guardian, the campaigners say: “The legal rights of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) are still under threat.
“The government’s proposed … reforms would significantly reduce existing legal rights to enforceable EHCPs, parental choice of educational settings and independent routes of appeal.”
They add: “We … urge ministers to work with Send families and organisations to retain existing Send legal rights, preserve individual provision, improve accountability in the system, and retain meaningful independent routes of appeal.”
View image in fullscreen The campaigners are led by the broadcaster Chris Packham. Photograph: Hugh Hastings/Getty Images for The National Lottery The letter is signed by 36 people, including Packham, the actor Sally Phillips, the clinical psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen and the Guardian columnist John Harris.
The changes were announced in February after lengthy consultation by ministers with experts and Labour MPs.
Under the plans, instead of legally enforceable EHCPs, millions of pupils will be given individual support plans, which will be agreed between parents and schools but will not be subject to independent legal appeal.
These support plans will be administered by schools rather than local authorities, and parents who are unhappy with them will be asked to appeal to the school rather than being given recourse to an independent tribunal.
Schools will be given more resources to help support Send children, but the overall package is designed to curb the rapid escalation in costs under the current system, which has left councils in England facing a projected £6bn financial black hole in two years’ time.
However, the Guardian revealed on Thursday that the projected savings risk being undermined by a flood of new applications for EHCPs, as parents look to secure legal protections before the new system takes force.
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