JOIN THE NATIONAL PROTEST TO SAVE SEND LEGAL RIGHTS

The Save Our Children’s Rights campaign has announced a national protest and regional demonstrations to call on the Government to protect and strengthen the legal rights of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The campaign has taken this step in response to the Government’s proposed SEND reforms set out alongside the Schools White Paper. The SOCR members are deeply concerned that these proposals risk weakening long-established legal protections that families across England rely on.

Since the White Paper was published, we have been working with legal experts across our coalition to understand what these proposals could mean in practice. Our analysis suggests that several key rights are at risk, including:

• The right to provision based on a child’s individual needs, through a shift towards standardised Specialist Provision Packages (SPPs) into which individual children may not easily fit.
• The right to enforceable provision, with children potentially moving from legally binding Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans to Individual Support Plans (ISPs) that appear to have no clear mechanism for enforcement.
• The right to an EHC needs assessment and plan, with unclear thresholds and eligibility potentially restricted to children and young people with undefined “complex needs”.
• The right for parents to request and secure a specific school or college placement, with proposals appearing to reduce the Tribunal’s power to name a placement.

join the PROTEST TO Save SEND Legal Rights

The demonstration will take place on May 9th at 11.30am in London and at different times in regions — check before you set our. It’s occuring in the 12-week consultation period on the Schools White Paper, so you still have time to respond

Alongside a central demonstration, we will be coordinating events across England. If you’d like to organise a demonstration in your area, visit our page to find out how you can get involved. There will also be ways for those who cannot attend in person to take part and make their voices heard.

This demonstration is not about resisting change. We know the SEND system needs to improve. But any reform must strengthen, not weaken, the legal rights that children and young people depend on.

We will be sharing further details very soon.

To find out more about our key messages click here.

In the meantime, please follow our social media channels and sign up to our mailing list to stay updated and find out how you can take part.